Discovered ripe fruit thanks to microwave scanning system

In the future, fruit picking robots, equipped with a microwave scanning system to determine fruit maturity, will replace humans in the fields.

This new technology was developed by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), United Kingdom, to use: microwave waves, radio waves, terahertz waves and far infrared radiation to measure the content of water in the left plants and vegetables and assess whether they are ripe and can be harvested.

"Ripe fruit contains higher water content, so we can identify when and where the fruit reaches maturity and can be harvested," said Dr. Richard Dudley, leading scientist. , working at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

This new technology provides: a way of assessing the maturity of fruits (such as strawberries), more accurately than recognizing the maturity of fruits through color; leading to a faster method of picking ripe fruits, because microwaves can pass through leaves and other tangible obstacles.

The microwaves are widely used because of their safety at low doses and are able to pass through many forms of matter but are easily blocked by water.

"With the microwave approach, you can evaluate the maturity (a little deeper below the surface) of the strawberry fruit, because it is possible that these strawberries have an attractive red color outside. but in fact the inside of the fruit is still quite hard and does not have much water, " said Dudley.

"We can determine the position of the strawberries through the luxuriant foliage. It is certain that the strawberry leaves do not contain too much water, so the foliage will become transparent before the detection microwaves. and underneath the foliage: the strawberries will be completely exposed ".

This microwave scanning system can even be used to detect disease or determine whether crops need to be fertilized or supply water in accordance with each stage of plant growth.

"With the microwave scanning system, you will manage plants more effectively, for example, when planting strawberries in greenhouses , " says Dudley.

But we are also considering equipping microwave scanning systems on tractors and on farms. This is possible if you can mount this technology properly.

The National Physical Laboratory (along with farmers and an agricultural equipment company) spent about two years developing this microwave scanning system, and conducting test systems on fields growing cauliflower and lettuce.

The biggest challenge of designing microwave detectors is a must: obtain high-resolution images with a fast enough detection speed.

In the future, the National Physical Laboratory will cooperate with sensor manufacturing companies and agricultural equipment to integrate microwave scanning technology into agricultural equipment, with reasonable cost while ensuring the quality of the product.