Feature extraction for ethylene gas measurement for ripening fruits

Ripening is the process by which fruits vegetables attain their desirable flavor, quality, colour, palatable nature and other textural properties. Feature extraction forms the basic unit of an image which serves as an important tool for identifying the ripening state of the fruits. Ripening is associated with change in composition i.e. conversion of starch to sugar. A setup for detecting ethylene (C
₂
H
₄
in ppm) level employing soft sensor is the objective of this work. The proposed method relies on the color of the fruit or the vegetable which denotes the various stages of ripening which in turn indicates the amount of ethylene gas required for the ripening process. Apples, pears, bananas, and mangoes are some of the fruits that release ethylene while ripening. Ethylene is responsible for the changes in texture, softening, color, and other processes involved in ripening. The amount of ethylene concentration liberated from the fruits indicates the level of fruit ripening and measurement of ethylene is inevitable during the post harvest of the fruits and also during the transportation of the fruits in order to avoid over ripening. The measurement of ethylene in fruits is also required to discriminate the type of ripening as fruits are also ripened by artificial ripening methods which are not acceptable for consumption.