Simulation and analysis of indoor air quality in Florida using time series regression (TSR) and artificial neural networks (ANN) models

Abstract

Exposures to air pollutants have been associated with various acute respiratory diseases and detrimental human health. Analysis and further interpretation of air pollutant patterns are cor-respondingly important as monitoring them. In the present study, the 24-h and four-month indoor and outdoor PM2.5, PM10, NO2, relative humidity, and temperature were measured simultaneously for a laboratory in Gainesville city, Florida. The indoor PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 concentrations were predicted using multiple linear regression (MLR), time series regression (TSR), and artificial neural networks (ANN) models. The modeling conducted in this study aims to perform a cross comparison study between these models in a symmetric environment. The value of root-mean-square error was improved by 18.33% in comparison with the MLR model. In addition, the value of the coefficient of determination was improved by 24.68%. The ANN model had the best performance and could predict the target air pollutants at 10-min intervals of the studied building with 90% accuracy levels. The TSR model showed slightly better performance compared to the MLR model. These results can be accordingly referred for studies analyzing indoor air quality in similar building types and climate zones.