Multisensor Data Analysis

A promising area of development in modern analytical chemistry is the design of inexpensive and compact analyzers, usually specialized ones. Such devices include optical multisensor systems (OMSs), which possess a number of features distinguishing them from traditional laboratory spectrometers. A distinctive feature of the new multisensor technology is the significant simplification of the analyzer due to its optimization for solving a specific applied problem. As a consequence, the nature of the data obtained changes: in OMSs, the data are represented by a small number of spectral variables. This paper presents a critical review of traditional requirements for the spectrometer design, as well as approaches to the collection, preprocessing, visualization, and the subsequent analysis of the data of OMS measurements. The problems generated by the development of multisensor technologies are considered, and methods of their solution are proposed in the context of current and future tasks of qualitative and quantitative analysis. The main trends and prospects for the development of the necessary algorithms and software for the analysis of multivariate OMS data are considered.