Signal and Information Processing for Sensing Systems

Current smart instrumentation using multi-sensors and/or spectrometers provides a wealth of data that requires sophisticated signal and data processing approaches to extract the hidden information.

Our group develops algorithmic solutions for the automatic processing of Gas Sensor Array, Gas Chromatography – Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and Mass Spectrometry (GC/LC-MS, MSI) data for metabolomics, food, and environmental samples.

In this context, we are interested in intelligent chemical instruments for the detection of gases, volatile compounds, and smells. These systems can be based on an array of nonspecific chemical sensors with a pattern recognition engine, taking inspiration from the olfactory system. Some spectrometries, e.g. Ion Mobility Spectrometry, are capable of very fast analysis with good detection limits but poor selectivity. These technologies have been proposed for the fast determination of the volatolome (volatile fraction of the metabolome), instead of the reference technique of gas chromatography – mass spectrometry.

During 2019 our research has been focused on:

1. Development of drones and terrestrial robots with bioinspired machine olfaction capabilities for gas source localization and mapping. Our results have shown that nanodrones with proper signal processing are able to locate sources in indoor scenarios particularly for chemical sources located above the drone.
2. Development of signal processing approaches to improve the time dynamics of chemical sensors and extract bioinspired chemical features from turbulent plumes. Proper deconvolution methods based on inverse filters are able to improve the sensor bandwidth an order of magnitude, reaching time dynamics able to detect with subsecond events.
3. Development of data processing methods to resolve molecular heterogeneity in mass spectrometry images of colorectal cancer tissues. The developed methods can discriminate resistant and sensitive areas of tissue to chemotherapy after proper training with homogeneous tissue images.
4. Development of full workflows including signal processing and machine learning tools for the analysis of untargeted nuclear magnetic resonance data. We have developed and released to the public a package developed in R for the analysis of NMR data: AlpsNMR.
5. Development of methods for the analysis of flatus and their relationship with food intake.
6. Development of signal processing methods for the analysis of Ham and Olive Oil flavour data using GC-IMS and their potential use in fraud detection.
7. Development of methods for the analysis of urine using GC-IMS
8. Development of techniques to reduce the power consumption of chemical sensor based on metal oxides.

• Gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (Thermoscientific) with robotic head-space sampler
• Gas Chromatograph/ Thermal Conductivity Detector (Thermoscientific) with robotic head-space sampler
• 2 Infusion pumps K-systems
• Gas Chromatography-Ion Mobility Spectrometry Flavourspec^TM (Gas Dortmund)
• 6 channel vapor generator plus humidity control (Owlstone, UK)
• Ion Mobility Spectrometer: Gas Detector Array (Airsense Analytics GmbH)
• Computing and General Purpose Electronic Instrumentation
• Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometer (Owlstone, UK)
• Corona Discharge Ion Mobility Spectrometer (3QBD, Israel)
• Ultraviolet Ion Mobility Spectrometer (Gas Dortmund, Germany)
• Fast Photo Ionization Detector (Aurora Scientific, Canada)

• Dr. Lourdes Arce
  Dept. Química Analítica, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain
• Prof. J. W. Gardner
  Microsensors and Bioelectronics Lab, Dept. of Electric and Electronic Engineering, University of Warwick, UK
• Prof. Achim Lilienthal
  Mobile Robotics and Olfaction Lab, University of Örebro, Sweden
• Dr. Ivan Montoliu and Dra. Sofia Moço
  Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, Laussane, Switzerland
• Dr. Jordi Palacín
  Robotics Lab, Universitat de Lleida, Spain
• Dra. Cristina Castro
  Sensors Technology, BSH-Zaragoza, Spain
• Dr. Jens Eichman
  MINIMAX, Bad Oldesloe, Germany
• Dr. Ulf Struckmeier
  AMS sensors, Reutlingen, Germany
• Dr. Fernando Azpiroz
  Dept. Digestive Diseases, Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
• Dra. Anna de Juan
  Dept. Química Analítica i Enginyeria Química, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
• Dra. Sofia Moço 
  Nestlé Research, Laussane, Switzerland 
• Dra. Silvia Mas
  IRSTEA; Montpellier, France. 
• Dr. Dominique Martinez
  LORIA-INRIA, Nancy, France 
• Dr. Oriol Sibila & Dr. Àlvar Agustí
  Inflamación y reparación en enfermedades respiratorias, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona