Small low-cost sensing (LCS) devices enable assessment of close-to-reality PM2.5 exposures, though their data quality remains a challenge. This work evaluates the precision, accuracy, wearability and stability of a wearable particle LCS device, Location-Aware Sensing System (LASS, with Plantower PMS3003), which is 104 × 66 × 46 mm3 in size and less than 162 g in weight. Real-time particulate matter (PM) exposures in six major Asian transportation modes were assessed. Side-by-side laboratory evaluation of PM2.5 between a GRIMM aerosol spectrometer and sensors yielded a correlation of 0.98 and a mean absolute error of 0.85 µg/m3. LASS readings collected in the summer of 2016 in Taiwan were converted to GRIMM-comparable values. Mean PM2.5 concentrations obtained from GRIMM and converted LASS values of the six different transportation microenvironments were 16.9 ± 11.7 (n = 1774) and 17.0 ± 9.5 (n = 3399) µg/m3, respectively, showing a correlation of 0.93. The average one-hour PM2.5 exposure increments (concentration increase above ambient levels) from converted LASS values for Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), bus, car, scooter, bike and walk were 15.6, 6.7, −19.2, 8.1, 6.1 and 7.1 µg/m3, respectively, very close to those obtained from GRIMM. This work is one of the earliest studies applying wearable particulate matter (PM) LCS devices in exposure assessment in different transportation modes.
Laboratory evaluation of a low-cost, real-time, aerosol multi-sensor
