Numerical study of light propagation in agricultural products for non-destructive assessment of food quality

Abstract

An accurate determination of optical properties of agricultural products is crucial for non-destructive assessment of food quality. For the determination, light intensity is measured at the surface of the product; then, inverse analysis is employed based on a light propagation model such as the radiative transfer equation (RTE). The inverse analysis requires high computational loads because the light intensity is numerically calculated using the model every time the optical properties are changed. For the calculation, we propose an efficient technique by combining a numerical solution with an analytical solution of the RTE, and investigate the validity of the technique in a two-dimensional homogeneous circular medium which is regarded as a light propagation model with optical properties of kiwifruit. The proposed technique can provide accurate results of the light intensity in change of the optical properties, and the accuracy is less dependent on the boundary conditions and source-detector angles. In addition, the technique can reduce computation time compared with that for numerical calculation of the RTE. These results indicate usefulness of the proposed technique for the inverse analysis.