The increasing complexity of modern industrial production, the potential threats of chemical or biological pollution due to accidents, transport incidents or terrorist attacks require continuous monitoring of changes occurring in complex multicomponent environments (CME) in order to timely eliminate their consequences. To make adequate decisions in such a short time, it is necessary to have the most complete information about a wide range of potential xenobiotics within the controlled area. In this study, such an important scientific and practical problem is solved by forming a unique “chemical image of the environment” using an intelligent gas analyzer based on a cross-reactive array of chemical sensors using piezoelectric elements of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) as physical transducers. The originality of this work lies in the formation of a network of such intelligent analyzers connected by means of telecommunication protocols for the operational control of the perimeter of a protected and\or dangerous zone by monitoring the gaseous environment.

The system includes (i) a central station with an expert decision-making system, (ii) several sensor modules, (iii) a local power supply system, and (iv) devices for information exchange between the central station and sensor modules. The sensor module is based on an 8 channels analyzer using the electronic nose concept (Gestalt-like perception of CME by virtual coding with so-called chemical images). The selectivity profile of the sensor array is determined by a set of sensitive layers deposited on the electrodes of the QCM transducers.