IoT-based Cost-Effective Fruit Quality Monitoring System using Electronic Nose

TL;DR

This paper presents a low-cost IoT-based electronic nose system using gas sensors to objectively monitor fruit quality, aiming to reduce post-harvest losses and improve decision-making for farmers.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel, cost-effective IoT fruit quality monitoring system with a mathematical model for assessing ripening and decomposition based on gas emissions.

Findings

Accurately tracks ethanol, methane, and ammonia levels in bananas.

Provides a scalable dashboard for real-time decision-making.

Potential to reduce economic losses and enhance food safety.

Abstract

Post-harvest losses due to subjective quality assessment cause significant damage to the economy and food safety, especially in countries like Bangladesh. To mitigate such damages, objective decision-making backed by scientific methods is necessary. An IoT-based, cost-effective quality monitoring system can provide a solution by going beyond subjective quality monitoring and decision-making practices. Here, we propose a low-power, cost-effective fruit quality monitoring system with an array of MQ gas sensors, which can be used as an electronic nose. We track the volatile gas emissions, specifically ethanol, methane, and ammonia, encompassing both ripening and decomposition for a set of bananas. Based on the gas concentration thresholds, we develop a mathematical model to accurately assess fruit quality. We also integrate this information into a dashboard for prompt decision-making and monitoring to make it useful to the farmers. This approach has the potential to reduce economic losses, enhance food safety, and provide scalable solutions for the supply chain.