Sensor Array Data Interpretation

One of the most interesting areas of research that combines chemistry with ANNs is the use of networks to interpret data from sensor arrays. 

Recent developments in the field of sensing airborne chemicals using electrochemical sensors and sensor arrays are reviewed. Such systems detect, Identify, and quantify potential chemical hazards to protect the health and safety of workers and citizens. The application discussed In this review article Is single chemicals at part-per-million levels in air. The sensor system consists of an array of sensors used In four modes of operation, and the data are Interpreted by a computer algorithm. Pattern recognition techniques are being used to understand the information content of the arrays and to focus future experimental work. 

One final problem that must be addressed in the interpretation of sensor-array data is the reliability of the final result. Each sensor response contains a certain degree of error, and the propagation of error for a sensor array is not trivial. This fact has important ramifications in terms of identification of an analyte in the presence of interferences, as well as in the selection of coatings for inclusion in the array. The efficacy of the array depends on the uniqueness of coating responses as colinearity increases, error in the final result is amplified and the detection limit is adversely affected. These concerns have been addressed and the effects on the analytical result from the sensor array have been described quantitatively [260,272]. 

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