Choosing the hardware

The algorithmic scheme outlined above can work with any sniffer and any whiffer. Even an extremely poor sniffer, that yields very little information, and a primitive whiffer with a small number of palette odorants and a coarse mixing ability, can be used; the MTM algorithm will produce results and the whiffer will emit the computed mixture -the best possible under the circumstances.

The point is that the results will be only as good as the hardware, and vice versa: better hardware will cause our scheme to produce better results. The situation regarding sniffers is good. More and more eNose types are developed, using continuously improving sensor technologies. We hope that the ideas presented in this paper will have a productive effect on eNose manufacturers, since we envision a far broader spectrum of applications there of.

Whiffers seem to evolve much more slowly. But, as we have shown in our design and construction of iSmell r, the technology is available and the job can be done. We are confident that building and marketing high-quality commercial whiffng devices is possible. Indeed, it is inevitable.