Using LabVIEW and an NI USB-6008 to Develop an Automated Human Body Odor Recognition System

"LabVIEW and NI hardware helped us design and construct the worlds first artificial olfactory system that can identify different people through their body odor."
- Dr. Teerakiat Kerdcharoen, Mahidol University

The Challenge:
Creating the first device that can identify people based on their body odor patterns.

The Solution:
Using NI LabVIEW software and NI hardware to build an artificial olfactory system that can analyze data in real time.

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of automated human body odor recognition system.

Author(s): Dr. Teerakiat Kerdcharoen - Mahidol University Chatchawal Wongchoosuk - Mahidol University Mario Lutz - Mahidol University

Introduction
To identify individual people, we currently use biometric technologies that measure many different physiological and behavioral characteristics. These biometric technologies include fingerprinting, face recognition, speaker recognition, iris recognition, and signature verification. They allow secure access to buildings, computer systems, laptops, cell phones, and ATMs. Therefore, we have no doubt that biometric technology will play an increasingly important role in the future. Many scientists, research groups, and entrepreneurs are trying to add body odor to the list of identifying characteristics. However, no commercial odor authentication applications currently exist. Developing this technology is complicated because peoples various habits, such as deodorant use, perfume use, diet, sexual activity, and hormonal status, can affect human body odor. In this project, we designed and constructed an artificial olfactory system, based on LabVIEW and NI hardware, that can recognize different people through their body odor. We used the NI USB-6008 multifunction data acquisition (DAQ) device to control the mass flow controller and the air flow system and to read eight gas sensors with an 8-channel analog multiplexer. We used LabVIEW to write the measurement software and the real-time principal component analysis (PCA).

Body Odor Recognition System

We designed the system to detect human body odors from the armpit because the armpit contains a vast number of glands and is one of the best sources for sampling volatile chemicals released from the human body. These chemicals contain a unique pattern, which allows us to identify different people. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram describing this system. Clean air produced by an electrical pump carries aroma molecules into the sensor chamber at a flow rate controlled by a mass flow controller, which is in turn controlled by the USB-6008. The USB-6008 sends out an analog signal for flow rate adjustment and receives back a set of digital signals showing the real-time flow rate value. The USB-6008 also sends digital signals to select the path of air flow by controlling four electrical solenoid valves. We obtained the baseline and signal values by switching between the clean air and the sample containing odor molecules. The human body odor then flows into the sensor chamber, which contains eight metal oxide gas sensors made by Figaro Engineering Inc. We measured the resistance of each sensor using the voltage divider method. We used an 8-channel analog multiplexer to connect the eight gas sensors. We configured the USB-6008 to a finite sample mode, which specifies 512 samples per channel with a sampling rate of 10,000 Hz. We then employed the basic Averaged DC-RMS VI with the averaging type set to linear and a Hann window to reduce noise and obtain higher precision. An analog input port on the USB-6008 connects to an output port on the analog multiplexer using a buffer circuit that provides a high input impedance, a low output impedance, and unity gain. The resulting values are recorded in a file for subsequent analysis.

User Interface
Figure 2 shows a screenshot of the program's user interface. The user can observe the resistance of each sensor through a waveform chart in the main area. The temperature, dew point, and relative humidity appear on the right side. Note that the humidity and temperature sensors should be embedded in the sensor chamber. The user can also adjust important experimental parameters such as reference and sample time, number of loops, max flow rate, air flow rate, and file location. The user can then view how these changes affect the resistance of each sensor, the elapsed time, the current loop of measurement, and the flow rate. After an experiment ends, a dialog box appears with the alarm sound using Play Sound File.vi.

Real-Time PCA
We employed PCA to recognize human body odor patterns. We wrote the PCA program using LabVIEW, which made it easy to operate and visualize, and helped us save time. Figure 3 shows a screenshot of the real-time PCA program. Data obtained from the body odor recognition system can be calculated using the PCA method and instantly visualized in both 2D and 3D plots. On the right side of Figure 3, the user can also select a method, such as conductance change, to improve the classification power. This PCA program not only functions for our body odor recognition system, but also works in a general artificial olfactory system based on two feature selection modes, namely min/max and point modes. The min/max mode refers to a feature determined by the maximum and minimum amplitudes of the reference and sample measurements, respectively. The point mode refers to a direct PCA calculation from any raw data. In addition, the user can ignore bad points and improve classification by using offset mode or standard deviation to normalize the data on the right side of Figure 3.

Identification Through Body Odor

We conducted a five-day experiment on two male volunteers with this system. We collected armpit odors in the morning and once again eight hours later. We used cotton pads to transfer the odors from the armpits to the artificial olfactory system. We ensured that the cotton pads were in direct contact with the armpit for 10 minutes and then stored in special sample glass bottles with screw-on closures. After collecting the morning samples, we transferred the glass bottles to the laboratory for artificial olfactory system measurement. To minimize odor changes due to bacteria, the samples were transferred via heat-protected containers and measured within 30-50 minutes of sample collection. For the afternoon

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samples, we conducted the measurement immediately after the odor sampling. To study the effects of deodorant, we asked the volunteers to use deodorant only on their right arm. After obtaining the basic odor information of both volunteers, we used our body odor recognition system to measure one volunteer directly. Figure 4 shows the 2D-PCA result. The red circles represent volunteer A, and the green circles represent volunteer B. The white point is the direct measurement of volunteer A after obtaining the basic odor information. The opaque points represent the right armpit, which had deodorant, and the clear points represent the left armpit, which did not. The PCA result clearly distinguishes volunteer A from volunteer B, showing that our device can recognize people even if they use deodorant. Moreover, the white point occurs inside the red circle, which means a person can be identified through body odor using the automated human body odor recognition system.

Conclusion
LabVIEW and NI hardware helped us design and construct the worlds first artificial olfactory system that can identify different people through their body odor. Although the real-time PCA helps reduce the time for PCA calculation, achieving the necessary armpit odor data for each person requires a fairly long time, so we still need to make improvements. However, we hope that our automated human body odor recognition system will be one of the emerging body odor biometric technologies. Author Information: Dr. Teerakiat Kerdcharoen Mahidol University 272 Rama Vi Road, Ratchathewi District Bangkok 10400 Thailand Tel: +66 22015856 Fax: +66 22015843 sctkc@mahidol.ac.th

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of automated human body odor recognition system.

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Figure 2. The screen shot of the programs front panel

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Figure 3. The screen shot of PCA program.

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Figure 4. The 2D-PCA of people identification through body odor based on database as measured in the afternoon during 5 days.

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