Part of my training for doing "engine room checks" on a boat involved checking for any unusual smells, e.g. fuel leak, burning oil (from generator/engine), burning coolant (from generator/engine), or burning rubber (from sea chest raw water impeller). All of the components in there are equipped with sensors[1] that measure levels, temperature, etc. Perhaps there is room for a new olfactory sensor there? Aside from avoiding catostrophic issues like fire and engine or generator failure, it's also important to not pump out[2] any water from the compartment into the ocean if it's contaminated with oil, fuel, or coolant (the laws about this are super strict).
[1] There are digital sensors that are readable directly from the pilothouse by the captain which are rigged to automated alarms, as well as manual sensors (e.g. a pressure dial) that are readable from the engine room itself, for redundancy. So I don't think an olfactory sensor would replace the unusual smell check, but it could maybe augment it.
[2] The "bilge pump" is used to pump out water from the bilge (bottom floor cavity of engine room). To be honest on my vessel the policy is to never turn on the bilge pumps in the engine room at all because the risk of dumping contaminants is too high. But I still thought to mention this just in case there's an idea there.
Thanks for sharing these insights and real-life examples, they are very interesting. Yes, I believe there are situations where an olfactory sensor could detect a problem earlier than conventional sensors. For example, the smell of burnt oil might appear before an oil level sensor detects a drop or before temperature sensors trigger an alarm.
The key question, however, is where the biggest value lies - either in cost prevention or hazard reduction - so that the benefit-to-cost ratio justifies the investment in a technology that is not traditionally used for this purpose.
What you mentioned is particularly important: identifying industries where people already rely heavily on the perception of odor. Not just selective measurement of a specific chemical compound, but the overall “human” impression of smell. In many environments an experienced worker with 20 years in the industry can simply smell that something is wrong.
If we can replicate that capability with Sniphi - but in a scalable, continuous way - it could make the value proposition much easier to demonstrate to customers. Thanks for sharing.