Trends and advances in portable analytical instrumentation

The evolution of dedicated microcomputers and microcontrollers, in addition to silicon microfabrication and other micromachining technologies, and the integration of these technologies, is having a profound impact on both the functioning and the applications of analytical instrumentation. In essence, analytical instruments are moving from the domain of functioning as pure analyzers into the domain of functioning as problem solvers. This new functioning implies that the output from the new generation of instruments will not only be the analytical results but also the logical consequences that can be derived from the analytical data. The output from these devices will be decisions rather than analytical data. This has particularly important consequences for the vast expansion in applications for fieldable analytical chemistry. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Field Analyt Chem Technol 1: 87–92, 1996.