Récemment, les systèmes multicapteurs ont trouvé de nombreuses applications dans des domaines tels que l’industrie agroalimentaire, l’environnement, la médecine et la défense. Parmi les technologies existantes, les capteurs à ondes acoustiques de surface sont l’une des plusprometteuses et fait l’objet de nombreuses recherches. Les travaux décrits dans ce manuscrit concernent le développement d’algorithmes permettant la reconnaissance de composés chimiques et l’estimation de leur concentration. Cette étude décrit une méthode permettant d’estimer les paramètres des phénomènes de transduction. L’intérêt de ces derniers est mis en évidence expérimentalement dans des applications consistant à identifier des toxiques chimiques, des capsules de café contrefaites et à détecter la présence de DMMP et de 4-NT en présence d’interférents. / Recently, gas sensor arrays have found numerous applications in areas such as the food, the environment, the medicine and the defenseindustries. Among the existing technologies, the surface acoustic wave technology is one of the most promising and has been the subject of abundant research. The work described in this manuscript concerns the development of algorithms allowing the recognition of chemical compounds and the estimation of their concentration. This study describes a method for estimating the parameters of transduction phenomena. Their interest is demonstrated experimentally in applications consisting in identifying toxic chemical compounds, counterfeit coffee capsules and in detecting the presence of DMMP and 4-NT in the presence of interfering compounds.

This thesis addresses key issues of scientific realism in the philosophy of biology and chemistry through investigation of an underexplored research domain: olfaction theory, or the science of smell. It also provides the first systematic overview of the development of olfactory practices and research into the molecular basis of odours across the 19th and 20th century. Historical and contemporary explanations and modelling techniques for understanding the material basis of odours are analysed with a specific focus on the entrenchment of technological process, research tradition and the definitions of materiality for understanding scientific advancement. The thesis seeks to make sense of the explanatory and problem solving strategies, different ways of reasoning and the construction of facts by drawing attention to the role and application of scientific representations in olfactory practices. Scientific representations such as models, classifications, maps, diagrams, lists etc. serve a variety of purposes that range from the stipulation of relevant properties and correlations of the research materials and the systematic formation of research questions, to the design of experiments that explore or test particular hypotheses. By examining a variety of modelling strategies in olfactory research, I elaborate on how I understand the relation between representations and the world and why this relation requires a pluralist perspective on scientific models, methods and practices. Through this work I will show how a plurality of representations does not pose a problem for realism about scientific entities and their theoretical contexts but, on the contrary, that this plurality serves as the most reliable grounding for a realistic interpretation of scientific representations of the world and the entities it contains. The thesis concludes that scientific judgement has to be understood through its disciplinary trajectory, and that scientific pluralism is a direct consequence of the historicity of scientific development.