Tracking of a Gas Plume With the Aid of Olfactory Assist Mask

Here, we report the results of experiments conducted to see if human subjects can track a faint airborne odor plume with the help of an olfactory assist system that presents the amplified olfactory stimuli to the subjects. The system consists of a gas sensor and an odor generator. The sensor measures the concentration variations of a gaseous chemical compound wafting in the air. The odor generator presents the user with an odor with amplified concentration variations. Thus, the user of the olfactory assist system can virtually have an enhanced sense of smell. The odor with four different intensities is generated by the current olfactory assist mask system. We first describe the experiments conducted to confirm that the subjects can surely discriminate the different intensities of the presented odor. The results of gas-plume tracking experiments show that the olfactory assist system can make tracking of an aerial odor plume much easier, because it allows the user to check the spatial concentration variations of a faint odor.