DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2b879
title: Data from: Mobile phones as monitors of personal exposure to air pollution: is this the future?

description: Mobile phones have a large spectrum of applications, aiding in risk
 prevention and improving health and wellbeing of their owners. So far,
 however, they have not been used for direct assessment of personal
 exposure to air pollution. In this study, we comprehensively evaluated the
 first, and the only available, mobile phone - BROAD Life - equipped with
 air pollution sensors (PM2.5 and VOC), to answer the question whether this
 technology is a viable option in the quest of reducing the burden of
 disease to air pollution. We tested its performance, applicability and
 suitability for the purpose by subjecting it to varied concentrations of
 different types of aerosol particles (cigarette smoke, petrol exhaust and
 concrete dust) and formaldehyde under controlled laboratory conditions, as
 well as to ambient particles during field measurements. Six reference
 instruments were used in the study: AEROTRAK Optical Particle Counter (OPC
 model number 9306), DustTrak, Aerodynamic Particle Counter (APS), Scanning
 Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance
 (TEOM) and Formaldehyde Analyser. Overall, we found that the phone's
 response was linear at higher particle number concentrations in the
 chamber, above 5 and 10 µg m-3 , for combustion and concrete dust
 particles, respectively, and for higher formaldehyde concentrations,
 making it potentially suitable for applications in polluted environments.
 At lower ambient concentrations of particles around 10 ug m-3 and 20 µg
 m-3 for PM2.5 and PM10, respectively, the phone's response was below
 its noise level, suggesting that it is not suitable for ambient monitoring
 under relatively clean urban conditions. This mobile phone has a number of
 limitations that may hinder its use in personal exposure and for
 continuous monitoring. Despite these limitations, it may be used for
 comparative assessments, for example when comparing outcomes of
 intervention measures or local impacts of air pollution sources. It should
 be kept in mind, however, that a mobile phone measuring air quality alone
 cannot as such 'reduce the burden of disease to air pollution, as
 knowing ambient concentrations is only one of the building block in this
 quest. As long as individuals cannot avoid exposure e.g. in urban areas,
 knowing concentrations is not sufficient to reduce potential adverse
 effects. Yet, there are many situations and microenvironments, which
 individuals could avoid knowing the concentrations and also being aware of
 the risk caused by exposure to them. This includes for example to
 proximity to vehicle emissions, either for social purposes (e.g. street
 cafes) or exercising (e.g. walking or jogging along busy roads)or indoor
 environments affected by combustion emissions (smoking, candle burning,
 open fire).
description: Data obtained from
 laboratory and field evaluation of Smartphone called the BROAD Life
 phoneThis is data obtained
 from systematic evaluation of an air pollution measuring smartphone, known
 as the BROAD Life mobile phone. The output of the mobile phone was
 bench-marked against the output of six different standard measuring
 instruments. In the data files, M1 stands for BROAD phone-1 and M2 stands
 for BROAD phone-2. The standard instruments were designated as follow,
 Aerosol Particle Analyser as APS, Formalldehyde Analyser as FA, Dusttrak
 as DT, Optical Particle Counter as OPC, Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer
 as SMPS and TEOM as TEOM.BROAD
 phone.zip