Predicting Apple Firmness and Soluble Solids Content Based on Hyperspectral Scattering Imaging Using Fourier Series Expansion

This article reports on using a Fourier series expansion method to extract features from hyperspectral scattering profiles for apple fruit firmness and soluble solids content (SSC) prediction. Hyperspectral scattering images of ‘Golden Delicious’ (GD), ‘Jonagold’ (JG), and ‘Delicious’ (RD) apples, harvested in 2009 and 2010, were acquired using an online hyperspectral imaging system over the wavelength region of 500 to 1000 nm. The moment method and Fourier series expansion method were used to analyze the scattering profiles of apples. The zeroth-first order moment (Z-FOM) spectra and Fourier coefficients were extracted from each apple, which were then used for developing fruit firmness and SSC prediction models using partial least squares (PLS) and least squares support vector machine (LSSVM). The PLS models based on the Fourier coefficients improved the standard errors of prediction (SEP) by 4.8% to 19.9% for firmness and by 2.4% to 13.5% for SSC, compared with the PLS models using the Z-FOM spectra. The LSSVM models for the prediction set of Fourier coefficients achieved better SEP results, with improvements of 4.4% to 11.3% for firmness and 2.8% to 16.5% for SSC over the LSSVM models for the Z-FOM spectra data and 3.7% to 12.6% for firmness and 5.4% to 8.6% for SSC over the PLS models for the Fourier coefficients. Experiments showed that Fourier series expansion provides a simple, fast, and effective means for improving Keywords: Apples, Firmness, Fourier series expansion, Hyperspectral scattering imaging, Least squares support vector machine, Partial least squares, Soluble solids content.