Method of calibrating an electronic nose

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for calibrating an electronic nose, said electronic nose comprising a plurality of optical sensors arranged on a surface and capable of being in contact with a gaseous medium of interest, said optical sensors being capable of delivering a signal representative of the local optical index of the gaseous medium of interest when they are excited by photons, the method being characterized in that it comprises the following steps: after having placed the electronic nose in a gaseous medium of interest at the initial pressure (P) and the initial temperature (T): a) sending photons in the direction of the sensors so as to excite said sensors; b) measuring the signal delivered by each of the sensors, this measurement providing as many responses as there are sensors; c) modifying the pressure and/or temperature of the gaseous medium of interest; d) repeating step b); and e) for each sensor, determining a correction factor such as a variation in the signal between steps d) and b) corrected by the correction factor either equal to or substantially equal to a variation in the signal between these same steps for a reference, said reference being provided by a reference sensor or a combination of reference sensors. Such a method allows a physical calibration, that in the present case is relative, to be performed between the different sensors.