In this work we describe a novel portable electronic nose. It is a battery powered instrument with wireless communications capable of stand alone operation for long time periods due to its low power consumption and its recharging possibility by installed solar cells. It has been designed to accept several types of resistive microchemical sensors limited only by their power consumption.
The instrument is made of low power, low cost industrial elements and basically comprises electrovalves, pumps, filters, a flowmeter, chemical sensors, solar cells and electronics for measurement, control and communications. The electronic nose can be operated stand alone or controlled externally by a personal computer. The wireless communications are based on the IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee standard. Although this device has been developed for outdoor applications as off-odour or contaminants mapping it can be used as a general purpose low cost electronic nose. In fact, first application has been the detection of chemical warfare agent simulants and VOCs.
