To simulate the biochemical sensor system, an artificial odour-sensing system based on a sensor array for recognizing organic functional groups has been constructed. The array consisted of 8 piezoelectric crystal sensors, each coated with an adsorptive material with unselective, but different response characteristics. The frequency shift data obtained from the array as the response to mixed vapour of common organic solvents of small molecular size were treated by using stepwise discrimination analysis (SDA), and five coatings that provided the maximum level of analyte discriminating ability were selected. The array constructed from these solvents was applied to recognizing alcoholic hydroxyl, carbonyl from other organic functional groups. The principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the original and autoscalled data. The two-dimensional display of the data showed well-defined clusters for solvents containing different functional groups separated from each other. The array was applied to identifying spirits and beverages.

Key words: PATTERN RECOGNITION, ARRAYS