Electronic noses and their applications

Electronic/artificial noses are being developed as systems for the automated detection and classification of odors, vapors, and gases. An electronic nose is generally composed of a chemical sensing system (e.g., sensor array or spectrometer) and a pattern recognition system (e.g., artificial neural network). We are developing electronic noses for the automated identification of volatile chemicals for environmental and medical applications. In this paper, we briefly describe an electronic nose, show some results from a prototype electronic nose, and discuss applications of electronic noses in the environmental, medical, and food industries