Analyzing the transient response of MOX gas sensors to improve the lifetime of distributed sensing systems

We present a detailed and insightful analysis of the transient response of chemo-resistive MOX gas sensors and we propose an innovative strategy to reduce by 20x the power used to perform a measurement at the cost of a fixed reading interval. Our approach is targeted to continuous and autonomous environmental monitoring applications, for example in Wireless Gas Sensor Networks (WGSN). We apply the proposed technique to MOX sensors targeted to methane with a reading rate of 60sec. This technique can be easily adapted to e-Nose scenarios where multiple sensors are used, and higher measurement rates are required. Indeed, results demonstrate that it is possible to identify and measure from very-low (0, 1%) to high (1%) methane concentrations in air, taking into account also important parameters such as the environmental humidity, which strongly affects the sensor's behavior.