Advancements in Networkable and Low-Cost Monitoring at AethLabs: an Exposition of a New WiFi-Enabled Portable microAethalometer, a Networkable Multi-Pollutant Aerosol and Gas Monitor, and an MA-series Firmware Upgrade to Add WiFi and Source Apportionment
JEFF BLAIR, Steven Blair, Tanja Dobovicnik, Ivan Iskra, L. Drew Hill,
Aethlabs Abstract Number: 584
Working Group: Exhibitor and Instrument Application Showcase
AbstractPM
2.5 and its black carbon (BC) component have been well-characterized in their abilities to induce respiratory and cardiovascular responses at low exposure concentrations. Actual ambient concentrations to which individuals are exposed depend heavily on local emissions sources. For aerosols < 2.5 µm in diameter, such concentrations have been shown to vary in health-relevant amounts on a geospatial scale as small as city block to city block. Temporally, PM
2.5 and BC concentrations can jump by orders of magnitude in a minute or less. It is critical that commercially available monitors reflect these needs. We present a new set of AethLabs devices that will help researchers, communities, and government agencies capture BC, PM
2.5, and gas data at more actionable spatial resolutions in real-time and a software update that adds wireless data telemetry and source apportionment features to existing AethLabs MA-series aethalometers. AethLabs’ new devices include the AethLabs microAeth
® AL30 – a low-cost pocket-sized personal black carbon monitor with built-in WiFi networking and remote data and device management, a 24 hour internal battery, sensors for assessing sample temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and accelerometry, and a 1-hour lower limit of detection preliminarily assessed at 0.003 µg/m
3 (averaged from 5-min timebase data, 250 mL/min flow) – and the AethLabs “Scout” – a small networkable (WiFi) monitor with multiple sensing capabilities including optical PM
2.5 & PM
1.0 with sample conditioning to reduce hygroscopic effects, photoacoustic CO
2, metal oxide total VOC, temperature, relative humidity, and barometric pressure. Source apportionment in existing MA-series instruments is based on the peer-reviewed Aethalometer Model to estimate BC concentrations produced by biomass combustion and, comparatively, BC concentrations produced by fossil fuel combustion. Examples will be presented.