Evaluation of a Smartphone Sensor to Broadband and Narrowband Ultraviolet A Radiation

Abstract

Smartphone image sensor response is compared for broadband and narrowband (340 nm and 380 nm) UVA wavelengths (320–400 nm) based on previous studies that have demonstrated quantitative response to solar radiation at 380 nm and 340 nm to reconstruct broadband irradiance. This article compares broadband and narrowband sensing using a common readily accessible smartphone equipped with a broadband UVA filter that displayed strong sensitivity to long wavelength UVA irradiances from 370 nm with a maximum at 380 nm. However, the use of narrow passband and neutral density filters allowed quantitative observations at the biologically significant wavelength of 340 nm. Narrow passband filter observations also had less variation at 340 nm than observed for broadband measurements. The results indicate that the smartphone image sensor, with the addition of narrow passband and neutral density filters, is a viable tool for UVA observations, but is unsuitable for broadband filter measurements.