Detection and Classification of Human Body Odor Using an Electronic Nose

Chatchawal Wongchoosuk,Mario Lutz,Teerakiat Kerdcharoen

doi:10.3390/s90907234

Chatchawal Wongchoosuk, Mario Lutz + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/s90907234

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Journal: Sensors	Publication Date: Sep 9, 2009
Citations: 148	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Mahidol University, National Nanotechnology Center

Abstract

An electronic nose (E-nose) has been designed and equipped with software that can detect and classify human armpit body odor. An array of metal oxide sensors was used for detecting volatile organic compounds. The measurement circuit employs a voltage divider resistor to measure the sensitivity of each sensor. This E-nose was controlled by in-house developed software through a portable USB data acquisition card with a principle component analysis (PCA) algorithm implemented for pattern recognition and classification. Because gas sensor sensitivity in the detection of armpit odor samples is affected by humidity, we propose a new method and algorithms combining hardware/software for the correction of the humidity noise. After the humidity correction, the E-nose showed the capability of detecting human body odor and distinguishing the body odors from two persons in a relative manner. The E-nose is still able to recognize people, even after application of deodorant. In conclusion, this is the first report of the application of an E-nose for armpit odor recognition.

Highlights

IntroductionElectronic noses (E-nose) are well-known as efficient analytic devices that are widely used for many applications such as quality control of foods [1,2,3,4,5] and beverages [6,7,8,9], public safety [10,11], air protection [12,13] and medical applications [14,15,16,17,18]
Another problem for E-nose measurement of armpit odor is the disturbance from artificial chemicals such as deodorants because most adult people utilize deodorants to reduce unpleasant body odor
We propose a strategy to identify persons based on measurement of human body odor from armpits

Summary

Introduction

Electronic noses (E-nose) are well-known as efficient analytic devices that are widely used for many applications such as quality control of foods [1,2,3,4,5] and beverages [6,7,8,9], public safety [10,11], air protection [12,13] and medical applications [14,15,16,17,18]. The armpit is a skin region where a vast number of glands and bacteria cooperate to produce a strong smell [26,27] It can be the best source for sampling volatile chemicals released from the human body, which may give a unique pattern allowing identification of different persons. A correction of the humidity effect is necessary to ensure a pure sensor response to only the volatile organic compounds that match with the identity of individual persons Another problem for E-nose measurement of armpit odor is the disturbance from artificial chemicals such as deodorants because most adult people utilize deodorants to reduce unpleasant body odor. We propose a strategy to identify persons based on measurement of human body odor from armpits To demonstrate this concept, we have designed and constructed an E-nose based on a set of metal oxide gas sensors. With this E-nose and the proposed method, identification of two persons either with or without using deodorant could be achieved

E-Nose System

Humidity Control

Human Body Odor Collection

Evaluation of Sensor Response to Body Odor Strength

Detection and Classification of Human Body Odor

Conclusions