ASIC for hybrid biosynthetic infochemical chemoreceiver

In this paper we report upon the design of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that forms part of a single-board implementation of a smart chemoreceiver within an infochemical communication system. The ASIC, comprising four differential surface acoustic wave resonator (SAWR) circuits, enables the sensing of odour blend ratios of either fruit volatiles or sex pheromones for insects. The ASIC chip has a digital interface to an FPGA containing a neuromorphic blend model developed in order to classify specific ratios of chemical compounds in the odour blends and used to control a mobile robot. The ASIC measures small changes in the resonant frequency of functionalized piezoelectric sensors with a resolution of 20 Hz and where the base SAW frequency is selected in the range of 60 to 969 MHz. The BiCMOS ASIC chip has dimensions 3 mm × 3 mm and was fabricated at AustiaMicroSystems (AMS). The smart chemoreceiver can be integrated with a chemoemitter to create a novel insect based infochemical communication system.