Classification of Dried Strawberry by the Analysis of the Acoustic Sound with Artificial Neural Networks

• Main Authors: Krzysztof Przybył, Adamina Duda, Krzysztof Koszela, Jerzy Stangierski, Mariusz Polarczyk, Łukasz Gierz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-01-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: artificial neural networks (ann); classification; strawberry; convection drying; acoustic signals; texture analysis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/2/499

In this paper, the authors used an acoustic wave acting as a disturbance (acoustic vibration), which travelled in all directions on the whole surface of a dried strawberry fruit in its specified area. The area of space in which the acoustic wave occurs is defined as the acoustic field. When the vibrating surface—for example, the surface of the belt—becomes the source, then one can observe the travelling of surface waves. For any shape of the surface of the dried strawberry fruit, the signal of travelling waves takes the form that is imposed by this irregular surface. The aim of this work was to research the effectiveness of recognizing the two trials in the process of convection drying on the basis of the acoustic signal backed up by neural networks. The input variables determined descriptors such as frequency (Hz) and the level of luminosity (dB). During the research, the degree of crispiness relative to the degree of maturity was compared. The results showed that the optimal neural model in respect of the lowest value of the root mean square turned out to be the Multi-Layer Perceptron network with the technique of dropping single fruits into water (data included in the learning data set Z2). The results confirm that the choice of method can have an influence on the effectives of recognizing dried strawberry fruits, and also this can be a basis for creating an effective and fast analysis tool which is capable of analyzing the degree of ripeness of fruits including their crispness in the industrial process of drying fruits.