Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo;
Department of Mechano-Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo.
J Vis Exp. 2021 Aug 27(174). doi: 10.3791/62895.
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.
小型无人机配备化学或生物传感器设备，能够检测空气中的气味分子，由于其在环境和安全监测以及搜救行动中的适用性，引起了相当大的关注。已经开发出带有商业金属氧化物半导体 (MOX) 气体传感器的小型无人机，用于气味源定位；然而，它们的实时气味检测性能被证明不足。然而，基于昆虫嗅觉系统的生物传感技术在对气味分子的敏感性、选择性和实时响应方面与商业 MOX 气体传感器相比表现出相对较高的性能。在这种设备中，切除的昆虫触角作为便携式气味生物传感器元件，已被发现具有出色的传感性能。本研究提出了使用基于可安装触角电生理学 (EAG) 设备的小型自主生物混合无人机检测空气中气味分子的实验方案，该设备包含了带有 Wi-Fi 模块的传感/处理部分。我们开发了一种可安装的 EAG 设备，其中包括带有 Wi-Fi 模块的传感/处理部分。该设备配备了一个简单的传感器外壳，以增强传感器的方向性。因此，使用不假设顺风方向的螺旋式脉冲算法进行了气味源定位。开发的生物混合气味检测无人机在伪开放式环境（风洞外）中识别实时气味浓度差异并定位气味源。由于其高度的可编程性，该开发的无人机及其相关系统可以作为一种高效的气味分子检测工具和用于开发气味源定位算法的合适飞行平台。
