Advanced Dielectric Anomaly Detection for Non-Destructive Fruit Inspection Using Electromagnetic Microwave Technique

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the application of an electromagnetic microwave technique combined with the dielectric anomaly approach algorithm for the non-destructive inspection of fruits. The proposed antenna configuration comprises eight elements arranged in a circular array, enabling the collection of signals scattered by objects, specifically fruits, placed in their path. The collected data undergoes a series of processing steps, including Fast Fourier Transform, covariance matrix estimation, eigenvalue and eigenvector computation, and spatial spectrum construction. The dielectric anomaly algorithm is then applied to detect defects in the fruits. The study covers five different types of fruits, both healthy and defective, and gathers essential dielectric properties. Furthermore, a novel hybrid IQR method is introduced for outlier detection in the dielectric data. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in providing valuable insights into the internal structures of fruits and detecting anomalies, contributing to the enhancement of quality assessment in fruit inspection processes.