Recent developments in the technology of odours have carried out the emergence of new devices mainly for odour monitoring. These systems were previously known as electronic noses or "e-noses", however this term in incorrect because these devices do not have a sense of smell, which is a human thing. A more correct term would be odorant sensor or o-sensor. In some cases the term "o-sensor" would be maybe too restrictive as it would exclude some other instruments for odour monitoring such as Gas Chromatograps for example.

   The primary application of these instruments is to generate odour metrics that are relevant indicators for the presence and attributes of odour as would be perceived by human observers.

   A benefit of instrumental odour monitoring systems is that they can be used for continuous measurement.

Some issues with odours with a company dedicated to transform agricultural byproducts.

  This study started the 13th of October of 2005 and it is set down to end in April 2007. It is one of the first experiences with e-noses in Spain and it is being carried out by the company J. Canet in collaboration with Jaume I University of Castellon and the Regional Ministry of Catalonia.

Following many complaints from neighbours on the surroundings, the company J. Canet started a program in its factory in ALMASSORALA, to determine if their factory is the responsible for the odours. The company claims that there are other activities that could have some influence on the odours in the area.

E-noses are distributed in different areas around the activity and the network is completed with a weather station. The aim is to have a continuous map of odour pollution.