London, Aug 30 (IANS): A new sensor, once connected to a smartphone, can tell how well you sleep apart from monitoring the air quality around it.

Developed by a Finnish company called VTT, the gas sensor would make things like the detection of internal air problems easier, ayle.fi.com quoted researchers as saying.

The sleep quality can be measured with greater precision, using mobile healthcare applications which gauge carbon dioxide quantities, they said.

The device can monitor levels of carbon dioxide exhaled while sleeping, giving precise measurements of restful, or fitful, slumber.

"Many day-to-day issues like precision and efficiency in the workplace can depend on carbon dioxide levels and indoor air quality," lead researcher Anna Rissanen was quoted as saying.

The tiny sensor was developed by the team's senior scientist Rami Mannila, and is based on shining light through an air sample captured in the device.

Carbon dioxide, for example, is identified based on its strong absorption of light at a wavelength of 4.2 nanometres.

Additional sensors can also be used to detect other gases or substances simultaneously, the researchers said.

They said the technology may be mass produced soon.