On pages of our site we’ve written about creating high-precision electronic nose, but in the modern world valued the portability and mobility. A group of researchers from Germany has recently introduced a very small sensor, which can effectively identify odors and fits into any modern smartphone.
Responsible for the development of a team of scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, led by physicist Martin Sommer. At the moment, the sensor can notify about the smell of smoke, gas or fire, but experts want to make the device more “massive and suitable for everyday use.” Therefore, in the future “electronic nose” plan to teach to determine, for example, the freshness of the food. Moreover, despite its size, the nose quite accurately and is much more sensitive than human.
The olfactory organs of a person are used to detect odors several million olfactory cells, as well as a bunch of neurons in the olfactory center of the brain. To repeat this in an electronic device — not the easiest task. For its implementation, German scientists used a special nanofibers that respond to a complex gas mixture. They form different signals depending on the ambient smell. These signals analyzes the chip on the basis of tin dioxide. To start the system needs to “teach” certain smells. After that, she will have to identify them automatically. At the moment the device left, the assurance of scientists, only one weak spot:
“The fact that all items do not always smell the same. For example, flowers in Sunny weather differently than in the rain or after it. So at this point we need to decide how to overcome this limitation”.
German scientists have created “electronic nose” that can be embedded in any smartphone
Vladimir Kuznetsov