Monochrome Computer Vision for Detecting Quality Defects of Fruits and Vegetables

Defects are a significant barrier in the marketing channel for fresh produce. Defect degrades the quality of fresh produce and causes huge loss in terms of quality, economical value, and reputation of growers or exporters. Timely, accurate, and rapid recognition of defects in the fresh produce can change the whole scenario and fulfills the consumers needs as todays consumers are more aware of their health and prefer good quality fresh produce. Several techniques have now been developed for the detection of quality defects of fresh produce. Computer vision (CV), a novel technology, is applied for the nondestructive quality assessment of fresh produce and getting momentum. This technology comprises of three main steps, such as image acquisition, image processing, and image analysis/classification. Different lighting and camera setup can further be used for the image acquisition of fresh produce. If a monochrome camera is used for the capturing of images of produce illuminated with visible (RGB) light, the computer vision system is known as monochrome computer vision system. Monochrome camera has been reported better than the color camera CV in many cases. This chapter discusses the fundamental concepts of the monochrome CVS, the components of MCVS, as well as applications and potential of MCVS for detecting quality defects of fresh produce.