Electronic nose for ambient detection and monitoring

Our ambient air carries hundreds of volatile organic compounds that can provide information about the toxicity and hygiene of our immediate environment. This paper presents prototype electronic nose designs that integrate array of chemical sensors into the embedded system to detect volatile organic compounds in the ambient air. Two specific applications for the electronic nose of detecting food spoilage and identifying sources of indoor air pollutants are discussed. A system with three chemical sensors was tested with various food items at varying stages of spoilage. The presented results show that food spoilage can be detected with a high degree of accuracy. A second system with eleven sensors was tested with various household items that emit compounds known to have adverse effects to human health. The results show that with the considered sensor array, the tested sources can be identified with a high degree of accuracy. The presented designs are being further improved to achieve a higher accuracy, further expand the compounds that can be identified for a broader range of applications, and to build a miniaturized hand-held electronic nose device. The system development, testing methodologies, and results analysis are presented and discussed.