September 8–9, 2026, Craiova: For the third time, following the events in 2022 and 2023, the University of Craiova becomes the venue for a hands-on air quality sensor workshop, this time as part of the Interreg ROBG PROMISE-Hard project (000299). uRADMonitor founder Radu Motișan returned to the Physics Department for a two-day extended workshop, guiding a new group of students through electronics, programming, networking, and IoT so in the end we have real working air quality sensors, live on the global map.

A Workshop Built Around Doing

Over two full days, the students covered the complete journey from theory to deployment. The curriculum moved through four areas in sequence: basic electronics and component identification, soldering technique and circuit assembly, microcontroller programming with Arduino, and finally IoT connectivity : how a small sensor reads air quality data, packages it, and sends it in real time to the uRADMonitor global network.

The format was deliberately hands-on throughout. Lectures were kept short; the workbench was where the learning happened.

Day One: Soldering

The first day was dedicated to building the hardware. Students assembled their uRADMonitor SMOGGIE sensors from components, soldering each part onto the board by hand. For most of them, it was their first time holding a soldering iron. Debugging solder joints, identifying cold joints, and understanding why a connection either works or doesn’t : these are lessons that no textbook replaces. By the end of day one, the boards were taking shape. Cold joints or extra solder plus any errors were fixed on spot, leaving everything ready for the next day.

Day Two: Programming and Going Live

The second day moved to firmware. Students programmed their sensors using Arduino, configuring WiFi connectivity and verifying that data was being read correctly from the particulate matter sensor by connecting to the internal webpage. This involved configuring their own smartphones to hook on the sensor’s local WLAN then accessing in a very technical way the internal page on 192.168.4.1.
The moment that consistently generates the most energy in these workshops came at the end: watching their own sensor appear as a live dot on the uRADMonitor global map, reporting real PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 readings in real time! And the jumping charts of the particulate matter readings. Of course, we had to burn a little paper too, and do a little live test that got them impressed!

Ten sensors were completed successfully across the two days.

Economics Students, Engineering Results

What makes this edition particularly notable is the profile of the participants. Some were physics students, yes, but most were not in engineering – they came from an economics background. The curriculum was adapted accordingly, with extra attention given to fundamentals, but the outcome was the same: every student completed the build, successfully programmed their sensor, and saw it come online.

It is a useful reminder that IoT literacy is not reserved for technical disciplines. The ability to understand, build, and deploy a connected sensor is increasingly relevant across fields – economics and environmental policy included. When asked they easily recognized other household items they hold that fit the category: smart fridges, vacuum cleaners or air conditioners. The circle was now closed, everything became clear, going fully hands on.

The Sensors Go Home

The 10 sensors built during the workshop will be installed in the students’ home cities across the region. The data they generate will feed directly into the ongoing research program of the Physics Department at the University of Craiova, contributing long-term air quality datasets for the areas where the sensors are deployed.

This is the same model that worked in 2022 and 2023: sensors built by students leave the workshop and become permanent nodes in the global uRADMonitor network, continuing to produce useful data long after the course ends.

Acknowledgements

The 2026 edition was made possible through the coordinated effort of the University of Craiova team. Congratulations and thanks go to lect.Ph.D. Mihaela Tinca Udriștioiu and reader.Ph.D. Iulian Petrișor for their continued commitment to bringing hands-on technology education to their students, and for keeping the Craiova summer school alive across these many editions now.

The first edition in 2022 brought 21 students from Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovakia, and Romania. The second edition in 2023 expanded to 22 students across the same partner countries. The 2026 edition, under the PROMISE-Hard framework, adds another 10 sensors to the network and another cohort of students who now know, from first-hand experience, how the air around them is measured.