Designing optimal sensor arrays: leveraging hard modeling for improved performance.

In a sensor array system with the ability to design multiple sensor elements, selecting the optimal sensor elements can maximize the efficiency of the sensor array in responding to various analytes. This paper proposes the application of hard chemical modeling as a means to identify the optimal subset of indicator displacement assay (IDA)-based sensors in the array, aiming to achieve maximum performance for detection or quantification. The model governing all reactions in the IDA sensor and the model of the pure spectrum of active species are first determined. Next, by applying the model of the pure spectrum of active species (including the indicator and indicator-receptor complex) to each sensor element and taking into account the system's nonlinearity, corrected concentration profiles of active species are derived using the generalized classical least square (G-CLS) method. These corrected concentration profiles are utilized as the output signal for each sensor element. Finally, the dynamic ranges (DR) of each sensor element and subsequently the DR for all possible sensor arrays are determined.To assess the effectiveness of the sensor array through dynamic range analysis, an IDA-based sensor system comprising five different elements was designed. It was observed that sensors with a larger dynamic range, when arranged together in an array, are more efficient for the quantitative identification of analytes. However, simply increasing the number of elements in the sensor array may not necessarily enhance its effectiveness; instead, it could amplify the noise within the system. Additionally, multivariate fitting regression with Gaussian function (MFRG), a nonlinear calibration method, was applied to assess the prediction ability of all possible designed sensor arrays.