Virtual environment with smell using wearable olfactory display and computational fluid dynamics simulation

It is important to include an olfactory cue to enhance the reality in the virtual environment. We have developed the virtual olfactory environment where a user searches for an odor source. The virtual olfactory environment was prepared using computational fluid dynamics calculation. It enables us to have the dynamic odor concentration distribution even if we have complicated obstacles in the virtual environment. Moreover, we developed the wearable olfactory display made up of multiple micro dispensers and SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) device so that the rapid switching of the smells could be achieved. The wearable olfactory display was attached beneath a head mount display to present a smell quickly. We made the virtual environment of the two-story building where four rooms were located at each floor. A user searched for the source of smoke smell located at one room among four ones at the second floor since we simulated the fire at the early stage. A half of the users could reach the correct source locations in the experiment.