Overview

Electronic noses are generally defined as instruments that mimic the mammalian sense of smell.

They generally comprise; an array of sensors of some type; the electronics to interrogate those sensors and produce the digital signals, and finally; the data processing and user interface software.

The entire system being a means of converting complex sensor responses into an output that is a qualitative profile of the odour, volatile or complex mixture of chemical volatiles that make up a smell.

Conventional electronic noses are not analytical instruments in the classical sense and very few claim to be able to quantify an odour. These instruments are first ‘trained’ with the target odour and then used to ‘recognise’ smells so that future samples can be identified as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ smells.

Electronic noses have been demonstrated to discriminate between odours and volatiles from a wide range of sources. The list below shows just some of the typical applications for electronic nose technology – many are backed by research studies and published technical papers.

In some cases, Scensive is already working with research and commercial partners, however we are always interested to explore opportunities with new partners.