A nose is needed. Electronic! Artificial olfactory systems and their applications - Ci vuole naso. Elettronico! Sistemi olfattivi artificiali e loro applicazioni

The sense of smell is still a little-known, complex and mysterious sense. It is a chemical sense, which enables the identification of odorous molecules in the environment by playing a key role in survival, reproduction and communication. However, the development of an artificial olfactory system that can emulate all the properties of its biological counterpart is still in progress although some commercial and noncommercial platforms already exist. The fundamental technique for olfactory sensing is based on partially selective gas sensor arrays that are able to detect the presence of one or more chemical ingredients in the air and, through methods to process the data provided by the sensors, are able to provide qualitative information about the odors analyzed.