The need for noninvasive, easy-to-use, and inexpensive methods for point-of-care diagnostics of a variety of ailments motivates researchers to develop methods for analyzing complex biological samples, in particular human breath, that could aid in screening and early diagnosis. There are hopes that electronic noses, that is, devices based on arrays of semiselective or nonselective chemical sensors, can fill this niche. Electronic...

This chapter briefly reviews the progress in field of artificial olfaction and demonstrates future trends in electronic nose technology. The discussion about e-nose concern also a big challenge for the pattern recognition (PARC) systems due to several particular problems they involve. Finally, the application of e-nose in different areas of life is given.

The capter revies two types of artificial olfaction instrumentation, i.e. gas-chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) and chemical sensor technologies (electronic nose and tongue), combined with multivariate data processing methods as promising approaches for rapid analysis of food. The chapter also includes examples of specific applications for the detection of food flavour and volatile components.

Electronic nose technology is being developed in order to identify aromas in a way parallel to the biologic olfaction. When applied to the field of medicine, such device should be able to identify and discriminate between different diseases. In recent years this kind of approach finds application in medical diagnostics, and especially in disease screening. Despite the fact that devices utilizing chemical sensor arrays are not routinely...

Explosives detection systems need to be able to reliably detect a wide range of explosive materials and their vapours. The continued development and improvement of artificial olfaction techniques, including electronic nose (EN), remains important to overcome existing challenges and meet requirements posed by new improvements in the field of explosives. There is an increasingly popular trend aimed at improvement of fundamental metrological...