Electronic Nose

Researchers in Spain and Sweden have developed an electronic device for distinguishing smell, the first step in creating multisensor systems that can differentiate complex mixtures of volatile substances such as methane and butane. In this experiment, the electronic nose was able to distinguish between the odors emitted by apples and pears.

Samples of the chopped fruit were placed into a tower-shaped chamber that was injected with air. A series of 32 sensors, each capable of identifying a specific compound, measure the concentrations and feed the data into a software algorithm, which classifies the information and presents the results on a 3-dimensional graph.

One obvious application for the device is in the wine industry, where the ability to more precisely determine the type and quality of grapes, or the vintage of a specific wine, would be helpful. But other research is focused on medical applications for the technology. For example, recent studies have shown that trained dogs may be able to to “sniff out” cancer by smelling a person’s breath, indicating that an electronic nose could be developed to allow for earlier diagnosis and treatment of certain diseases.