Gas sensors arrays (electronic noses) : a study about the speed/accuracy ratio

Abstract New Fingerprint Mass Spectra (FMS) systems claim for a higher precision, a reduced analysis time, and a lower drift, compared with Gas Sensors Arrays ‘Electronic Noses’. We demonstrated in this study that metal oxide gas sensors may have highly improved performances for both accuracy and run time, when used in optimum conditions. The different noise components were quantified referring to popular words (equivalent of ethanol concentration) using the transfer function of the sensor. It was pointed out that sample surrounding greatly affects the noise level, and that the signal-to-noise ratio may be dramatically increased, reducing the distortion generally assessed between sensor and…