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Abstract

Engineering

Electroantennography-based Bio-hybrid Odor-detecting Drone using Silkmoth Antennae for Odor Source Localization

Published: August 27th, 2021

DOI:

10.3791/62895

1Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, 2Department of Mechano-Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, 3Department of Applied Biological Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 4Sensing System Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Abstract

Small drones with chemical or biosensor devices that can detect airborne odorant molecules have attracted considerable attention owing to their applicability in environmental and security monitoring and search-and-rescue operations. Small drones with commercial metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOX) gas sensors have been developed for odor source localization; however, their real-time-odor-detection performance has proven inadequate. However, biosensing technologies based on insect olfactory systems exhibit relatively high sensitivity, selectivity, and real-time response with respect to odorant molecules compared to commercial MOX gas sensors. In such devices, excised insect antennae function as portable odorant biosensor elements and have been found to deliver excellent sensing performance. This study presents experimental protocols for odorant-molecule detection in the air using a small autonomous bio-hybrid drone based on a mountable electroantennography (EAG) device incorporating silkmoth antennae.

We developed a mountable EAG device including sensing/processing parts with a Wi-Fi module. The device was equipped with a simple sensor enclosure to enhance the sensor directivity. Thus, odor source localization was conducted using the spiral-surge algorithm, which does not assume an upwind direction. The experimental bio-hybrid odor-detecting drone identified real-time odorant-concentration differences in a pseudo-open environment (outside a wind tunnel) and localized the source. The developed drone and associated system can serve as an efficient odorant molecule-detection tool and a suitable flight platform for developing odor source localization algorithms owing to its high programmability.

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Keywords Electroantennography

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