Variable reduction on electronic tongue data

Reduction of the number of variables in data from a so-called electronic tongue contributes to simpler model calculations and less storage requirements. In this study, we have developed a model for this purpose. This model describes the response from the electrodes in the electronic tongue with two exponential functions plus a constant term, i (t) = k + k(f)e(-talpha) + k(c)e(-tbeta), where t is the time. From the model, five parameters which describe the signal are extracted. These parameters can be used as inputs instead of the original signal to any multivariate algorithm. The results show that the variables obtained are at least as good as the original data to separate between different classes, even though the number of parameters has been reduced between 80 and 199 times. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.