Chemical Sensors Notes SP2010

• Team Members: Joy Chiang
• PhD Supervisor: Vanessa
• Faculty Supervisor: Arye Nehorai
• Goal:
  • Determine the ability (accuracy and precision) of the current sensors to measure concentration
    • Test on substance like ethanol that the sensors are designed for
    • If accuracy and precision are sufficient for source localization, continue with these sensors, otherwise, we will have to find different sensors
    • Test whether acquisition time can be shortened for concentration measurement
    • Test whether performance improves with a different experimental setup (e.g., using a fan to blow air across the sensor)
  • Incorporate digital resistors into the circuit design to allow on-line optimal concentration estimation
  • Program a function in Matlab to estimate the direction to the source from the concentration measurements of two sensor arrays
    • Test with simulations in Matlab
  • Incorporate the direction estimation into a guidance program for the robotic platform
    • The robot should move to seek out the source of the odor
    • It should update its direction of movement periodically according to new direction estimates

---

• Status
  • Week 1- completed the experiments necessary in the development of an algorithm relating chemical concentration to sensor sensitivity.
  • Week 2- ran experiments with 0 drops concentration and 10 drops concentration
  • Week 3- changed the resistance of sensors 2 and 3 to result in better concentration differentiation