a b s t r a c tThis paper reports the use of a hybrid electronic tongue based on data fusion of two different sensor families, applied in the recognition of beer types. Six modified graphite-epoxy voltammetric sensors plus 15 potentiometric sensors formed the sensor array. The different samples were analyzed using cyclic voltammetry and direct potentiometry without any sample pretreatment in both cases. The sensor array coupled with feature extraction and pattern recognition methods, namely Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), was trained to classify the data clusters related to different beer varieties. PCA was used to visualize the different categories of taste profiles, while LDA with leave-one-out cross-validation approach permitted the qualitative classification. The aim of this work is to improve performance of existing electronic tongue systems by exploiting the new approach of data fusion of different sensor types.

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Multichannel sensor measurements combined with advanced treatment is the departure point for a new concept in sensorics, the electronic tongue. Our setup worked with an array of 20 ion selective electrodes plus an artificial neural network used as a pattern recognition method applied to soil analysis. With this design, we got a versatile tool which was able to perform qualitative and quantitative determinations. As first application, the qualitative discrimination between six distinct soil types based on their extractable components was attempted. The procedure was simplified to a single extraction step before measurements. Water, a BaCl 2 saline solution and an acetic acid extract were evaluated as extracting agents. The best performance was reached with the acetic acid extraction method with a correct classification rate and sensitivity both of 94%, and a specificity of 100%. In addition, a quantitative determination of several physicochemical properties of agricultural interest, such as organic carbon content and selected cations (like K þ or Mg 2þ ) and anions (like NO 3 À orCl À ) was also demonstrated, showing satisfactory agreement with the reference methods.Abbreviations: ANN, artificial neural network; ET, electronic tongue; PCA, principal component analysis 1808

This paper deals with the application of a voltammetric electronic tongue (ET) towards beers classification. For this purpose, samples were analyzed using cyclic voltammetry without performing any sample pretreatment, albeit its dilution with distilled water. The voltammetric signals were first preprocessed employing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Then, using the obtained coefficients, responses were evaluated using three different clustering techniques: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS‐DA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). In this case, the ET has demonstrated a good capability to correctly discriminate and classify the different beer samples according to its type (Lager, Stout and IPA) and manufacture process (commercial and craft).