To help durian exporters ascertain the right time to export the famous Thai fruit, a new technology called electronic nose will soon help durian farmers identify the fruit's precise age.

Called e-nose, the technology imitates the abilities of the human nose to detect and recognise odours. The technology is already in use to check the quality of wine and foods such as meat, vegetable, fish, rice grains and coffee beans.

It helps in the evaluation of the produce's freshness, measures its age and check for contamination and to maintain quality.

Kwan Sitathani, the deputy director at the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec), said the centre conceived the idea of using its own e-nose technology for this application.

Exporters usually face the problem of identifying the right time to export the fruit. Many times, they ship fruits which are too young or even raw, which leads to the rejection of the entire consignment.

Kwan said the centre is studying the durian's smell to develop the right scale, which the technology can adopt. Once e-nose smells the fruit, it would detect the odours and proceed with the odour discrimination automatically to give a result.

To make the artificial nose detect odours, an electronic sensor is used to detect and recognise each odour separately. The analysis software is another important component of the application. When sensors detect odours, the raw data is sent to the software which identifies the type and degree of the odours.

The centre also plans to develop a system for predicting the date or period when the fruit will be ready for consumption.

Knowing optimal date for consumption would also help exporters plan the delivery process according to the destination. This would, in turn, help them control costs and reduce losses.

To help durian farmers check the fruit's age on the field, the centre will develop a handheld e-nose device. Once the farmers put the device next to the fruit, the system will smell the odours and give a read-out on the device. The centre expects to conduct a field test of the e-nose system on a durian farm this year.

This article was first published in The Nation on April 9, 2008.