Presented by A N Other
Presentation title
Presented by A N Other
Chemical Sensors
and Sensor Systems
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Founded in 2004 to help bridging the gap between R&D
and commercial exploitation.
20 years of experience in multi sensor systems in a broad
range of applications.
Products:
• Hardware platforms for various sensor technologies, interfaces and
networks
• Software platforms for data processing and control
Services:
• Custom hardware & software development based on a portfolio of
internal technology platforms
• Application support, feasibility studies, technology consulting,
market studies
About JLM Innovation GmbH and myself
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Efficient, easy to use solutions!
Added value, through access to
complementary technology.
Fair and open relationship.
Tailored solutions that meet your needs.
Prototype or small scale production.
Flexible licensing.
What to expect from us
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Sensor systems and sensor networks based
on a broad range of sensor technologies
Harware platforms
QMB, SAW,
MOS, EC, CP,
FET, IR, ...
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Data acquisition and analysis software for
sensor systems
• Software
(Windows, Mac, IOS)
• Embedded Software
Software platforms
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
• From research to real life
• Some history on electronic noses…
• How to develop a new sensor system?
• Application economics!
• Example 1 Instrumentation
• Example 2 Mass Market
• Demonstrations of chemical sensor systems
• SNet – 4 Sensor Array
• MOXstick – Modulated single sensor
Structure of the talk
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
From research to real life
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
€ 5M Nexus Report (in 2002)
€ 10-15M Wall Street Journal (1998)
€ 10M Greenberg (1998)
€ 12M Attempto Service GmbH (in 2001)
€ 50 M FutureTech Report
€ 145 M Gardner / Bartlett (in 2000)
€ 1200 M German Infotech (in 2004)
€ 4500 M The Economist (1998) • Source: Gardner 1st Workshop NOSE II
Estimates of Enose Market
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
9 Commercial E-nose Companies in 1997
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Source: Gardner and Bartlett, Electronic Noses 1999, OUP
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Step 1: build or buy an enose
Step 2: measure some stuff
Step 3: do magical data analysis
Step 4: write publications
Step 5: go to Step 2
Typical early enose research
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
17 Commercial E-nose Companies in 2002
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Source: Vanneste, Handbook of Machine Olfaction (2002), Wiley-VCH
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
23 Commercial E-nose Companies in 2005*
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Source: JLM Innovation / NOSE II, Market Survey Electronic Nose 2005
* With products on the market
Manufacturer Products Technologies Airsense GDA, PEN, i-PEN/MOD, KegControl,
Proc.Ctrl Nose, EDU MOS sensors, IMS, thermo desorption
Alpha M.O.S. Fox, Prometheus, Gemini, Kronos, Astree MOS, CP and QMB sensors, MS, GC, Electronic Tongue
AltraSens OdourVector QMB AppliedSensor Embedded modules MOS, FE and QMB sensors Dr. Födisch Umweltmesstechnik AG OMD 1.10; OMD 98 MOS Element FreshSense MOS Environics Oy Chempro 100, ... IMS, sensor arrays Electronic Sensor Technology Znose GC with SAW detector Five Technologies GmbH QMB 6, MS-Sensor, SensiTOF QMB sensors, MS GERSTEL GmbH & Co. KG ChemSensor MS, GC, MOS, TDS Illumina Inc BeadStation Bead arrays Lennartz electronic GmbH MOSES II MOS and QMB sensors Meridiantek AG / Sensobi DL 1000, DL 1000 IS, DL 1000 IS Smoke SCP sensors Microsensor Systems Inc VaporLab, Hazmat, Eagle Monitor ... SAW sensors, GC Perkin Elmer QMB6 QMB sensors Quartz Technology Limited QTS-1 QMB sensors RST Rostock System-Technik GmbH SAM detect, ... MOS sensors SACMI EOS 835 MOS sensors Scensive Technologies Ltd Bloodhound, ST214 CP and DLC sensors SMart Nose Ltd SMart Nose MS Smith Detection /Cyrano Sciences Cyranose 320 Carbon black polymer sensors Sysca AG Kamina MOS Technobiochip Libra Nose QMB sensors
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
• Quality assessment of food and beverages
very fragmented, low volume, various deployments
• Pharmaceutical and chemistry applications
very fragmented, low volume, various deployments
• Medical applications
Highly regulated, mid to high volumes, no deployments yet
• Safety and military applications
Mid volumes, various deployments
• Environmental and agricultural applications
Fragmented, low to mid volumes, few deployments
• Embedded Applications
Mid to high volumes, very cost sensitive, few deployments
Application Areas and Potential Markets
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
• Generic instruments, handheld instruments, dedicated systems and
embedded devices were covered
• More than 30 companies involved in electronic nose instrumentation
and technology
• Applications in food industry, chemistry and pharmaceutics,
medicine, safety and military, environmental and agricultural, and
automotive
• Market for generic instruments is very fragmented with low growth.
• Dedicated systems for medical and safety applications have a lot of
potential. Several companies are focused on these markets.
• Simple embedded devices are being introduces to automotive and
consumer markets with strong growth.
• For many application further improvement of the technology is
necessary.
Electronic NOSE survey 2005
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
A „We use a system, with sensing properties that
are vaguely known, measuring something of
vaguely known composition and use magical
data analysis to generate the result that we
want.“
Application approach: Which one is better?
B „We know (or research) the compounds of
interest and then build a sensor system specific
for those compounds.“
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
„A sounds great. We can start right away
and get going. Why go through more
hazzle, when we can find out with some
simple tests.“
Optimists answer
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
A is pure gambling. Our chance to succeed
is nil. I need more infomation, so please
go back and spend more research until we
have enough information to do B.
Pessimists answer
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Obviously B is the only way to go.
We need verifiable well founded
methodology and B is the only way to
achieve that.
Please increase our budget. (We need more
fundamental research and fancier
equipment for a proper assessment.)
Scientific answer:
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
We just sold 1000 instruments to our
promising key customer.
Now get us the damn instruments.
By the way, if you could make them for half
the price, we could sell 10000
By the way, if you could make them for less
than 10 bucks, we could sell a million of
em (and it wouldn‘t matter if they worked).
Marketing answer
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Marketing has identified a great window of
opportunity.
I know you guys are cookin something. I
don‘t understand the details, but we need
something that works.
Please put together a project plan with
budgets and a timeframe. We have a
board meeting on monday and need to
take a decision.
Management answer
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
It depends!
• On the amount of preexisting knowledge
(or the cost of acquiring it).
• On the available technologies.
• On the difficulty of the application.
A and B are not mutually exclusive. Often
both approaches are followed
simultaneously, or repetitively!
The only true, correct answer:
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Odor (human perception) > generic
Complex mixture > simple mixture
Variable samples > stable samples
Variable matrix > stable matrix
Minor compound > major compound
Trace detection > high concentration
Unknown analytes > known composition
Reference samples hard to get > easily available
High thru put / short measurement time > no time constraint
Traceability required > not required
No false predictions > indication
Certifications > unregulated
Criteria for application difficulty
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Typical error sources
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Sample Measurement Evaluation
Pre treatment /Sampling
Sensors ElectronicsSpot sample Transportation /storage
Non represantative spot sample,
changing matrix,Influence of temperature, pressure,
humiditz, contaminations during sampling, transport and storage.
Contamination,
Influence of temperature,
pressure, carrier gas, amount and volume
on headspace
Drift,
poisoning, temperature,
pressure, carrier gas,
reference gas, gas flow.
Component
drift,temperature,
noise.Resolution or
measurement range too
small
Error in reference data
or recalibration data.Numerical effects.
Inadequate algorithms.
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Economical potential
• Volume (number of deployments)
• Cost sensitivity / gross margin
• After sales
Development effort
Development risk
Initial costs for production
Sales cycle
Spin off opportunities
Application economics
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Application Steps
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Problem definition
Feasibility prephase
Training
and Validation
Deployment
Specifications / Requirements
Expert analysis
Tests with limited sample set
Extensive sample set (all classes,
good bad, cross sensitivities)
Reference methods
Expert know-how
Installation at (multiple) sites
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Feasibility Study
-> Check for discrimination (e.g. PCA-Plot)
-> Assess main components / cross interference
=> No final answer for success!
Application Development
-> Optimization of method (technology, ...)
-> Validation
-> Reproducibility, Reliability, ...
=> Ready for implementation (or not...)
Feasibility vs. Application dev.
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
• First contact
• Second contact: Initiation of collaboration
Feasibility study
• Discussion + budget allocation
• Application development
• Acceptance + budget allocation
=> Repeat sales
Time to successful application
27
Months
0
2-3
6 – 12
> 6
6 – 12
======
Min 2
years
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Classical Enose: Cost per sale
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Instrument development
Instrument manufacturing
Marketing
Feasibility
Application development
Customer support
x M€ / sold instruments
x k€
Marketing cost / sold instr.
0.x k€
0.x M€ / (sold instr./ appl.)
x k€
Optimum: Few applications with high numbers
Real world: Average sale per customer: 1.x
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Price Cost Manufacturing cost
-> Price = Customer Value
Be efficient
-> Don‘t waste your money on
-> impossible applications (technology fit)
-> non profit applications (nice to have)
Adopt your business modell
-> Concentrate on your strength
-> We need more specialization and open
exchange
Success strategies ?
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Example 1:
Quality control of packaging material
From research to real life
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Examples: PARFUM / ESCAPE
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Philips-DAP, Netherlands
Philips-LEP, France
CSEM, Switzerland
Microsens, Switzerland
MOTECH, Germany
Neotronic Scientific, UK
Nestlé, Switzerland
AppliedSensor, Sweden
Gerstel, Germany
INRA, Dijon, France
Wall, Austria
Univ. Tübingen, Germany
M O T ECH
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Quality control of packaging material
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State of the Art:
Human Odour Panel
Automated investigation
with “Electronic Nose”
Better called application specific
sensor system (a triple s)
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Scoring
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Evaluation of odor and taste in comparison with a reference material. The difference is estimated according to the following category scale:
• 0: no difference with the reference
• 1: hardly perceptible difference (not definable)
• 2: slight difference (just definable)
• 3: strong difference (clearly definable)
• 4: very strong difference
Any packaging materials with a median score equal or greater than 2.5 is considered to be of doubtful quality and should be submitted to further analyses.
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Quality control of packaging material
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0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
Od
ou
r p
red
icti
on
by M
OS
ES
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
Test data withre-calibration ofthe array
Training data
Odour prediction by human sensory panel
RMSE = 0.26 RMSE = 0.57
Od
ou
r p
red
icti
on
by M
OS
ES
II
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
GC/MS of Nestlé Packaging Material
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5 10 15 20 25 30 35
0
1
2
3
4
5
Inte
ns
ity
[a
.u.]
Retention time [min]
more than 70% cyclohexane
in the headspace
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
GC/MS of Packaging Material, Bad Case
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Quality control: Final Product
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Application specific sensor system (a triple s)
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
• Odor quality assessment by panels delivers
imprecise data
• Solutions are possible in simple cases (few
components)
• Reference analysis is critical
• Methods cannot easily be transferred to new
sample types
• Reference sample sets are expensive and hard
to get
• Successful, validated method does not guaranty
commercial success
Quality Control: Lessons learned
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
• 2 consecutive projects, total duration more than 6
years
• Commercialization after the second project
• Effort for commercialization low in comparison to
research projects
• Prototypes during project based on commercial
products
• Low volume
• Small certification requirements
• No challenging production cost constraints
Project characteristics
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Example 2:
Control of air intake in automobiles
From research to real life
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Examples: CIA
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VDO Germany
FIAT, Torino, Italy
Telecom Italia
Univ. Warwick, UK
Univ. Southampton, UK
Univ. Rome, Italy
Univ. Linköping, Sweden
Univ. Neuchâtel, Switzerl.
Univ. Tübingen, Germany
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
Automotive application
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Automatic switching of the re-circulation flap • Increase of cabin air quality
• Safety issue
• Comfort aspect
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
• Development of prototype instruments containing
different sensor technologies
• Real life tests with the prototypes (test drives)
• Optimization of the sensor technologies for the
application
• Development of pattern recognition techniques
Methodology during project
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
• Duration 3 Years
• Outcome of the project
• Optimized prototype gas sensors
• Selected sensor technology
• Development methodology
• Effort for commercialization very high!
• Prototypes used in project not suitable for
commercialization (complete redevelopment)
• High certification requirements
• High volume, very cost sensitive
• New partners required
Project characteristics
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
General remarks / discussion
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Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
The SNet sensor network system:
4 Metal oxide sensors
32bit µC for onboard
data analysis
Ethernet and Zigbee
communication
Server software for
operation as sensor network
Demonstrations of chemical sensor systems
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH
The MOXstick:
1 Metal oxide sensor, almost any available
MOx sensor can be used.
Temperature modulation and sensor
characterization
Plug and Play, no drivers required
Simple, but powerful PC software
Sensor arrays by combining
several Sticks / Instruments
Demonstrations of chemical sensor systems
Jan Mitrovics, JLM Innovation GmbH 49
Thanks for listening!