An Electronic Nose to Differentiate Aromatic Flowers using a Real-Time Information-Rich Piezoelectric Resonance Measurement

A new type of electronic nose is used to differentiate subspecies of flowers grown together under identical conditions. The electronic nose uses a computer-designed broadband voltage pulse sent to a polymer coated electromechanical resonator. The pulse spans a user-defined bandwidth around a user-selected center frequency so as to include at least one mechanical resonance. The transient voltage pulse excites mechanical resonance through the piezoelectric effect. The current response signal from the device is recorded and subjected to FFT. Components of the response due to electrical impedance and mechanical resonance are separated and tracked with time upon exposure to floral aromas from related species and subspecies. This work uses low-cost electronics but still achieves enough sensitivity to easily differentiate subspecies grown under identical conditions.