The objective of this research is to design and fabricate a compact, cost effective multispectral instrument and to collect and analyze spectra for real-time contaminant detection for poultry processing plants. It was revealed by our previous research that the fecal contamination on the surface of the poultry carcass could be detected by sensing the spectral reflectance of the carcass surface in two specific wavelengths, namely 517 nm and 565 nm. The prototype system developed in this research consists of a multispectral imaging system, illumination system and handheld PC. To develop the system cost-effectively, all components are selected from off-the-shelf products and manually assembled. The multispectral imaging sensor developed in this research is a two-port imaging system that consists of two identical monochrome cameras, optical system and two narrow bandpass filters whose center of the wavelength are 520 and 560 nm, respectively. A spectral reflectance from a chicken carcass is collected and split in two directions by an optical system including a beamsplitter and lenses, and then two identical collimated lights are filtered by the narrow bandpass filters and delivered to the cameras. Lens distortions and geometric misalignment of the two cameras are mathematically compensated to register two images perfectly. The prototype system is tested in the real environment and shows that it can effectively detect feces and ingesta on the surface of poultry carcasses.

Date Published: 23 October 2006
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 6381, Optics for Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Foods, 63810X (23 October 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.686154

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6381:
Optics for Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Foods
Yud-Ren Chen; George E. Meyer; Shu-I Tu, Editor(s)