Online Monitoring of Milk Quality using Electromagnetic Wave Sensors: A microwave sensor application for classification of milk and detecting adulteration

摘要

This work presents an innovative approach of milk quality testing by applying electromagnetic wave sensing for various categories of milk products. Three common milk types; whole milk, semi-skimmed milk and skimmed milk were used to demonstrate the experimental results and determine the quality of milk samples effectively. For all the three categories, adulteration process of milk was examined with the help of electromagnetic wave cavity. Classification among milk types and the ageing of milk could be shown, besides spoilage, comprehensively with the resulting graphs from relevant practical measurements comprising the detection and analysis of spectral signatures for S_(11) and S_(21) parameters. This work gave promising results in order to lay a foundation for a cost-effective, real-time, in situ, easy-to-use method for milk quality control that can be applied within and outside the premises of laboratory restrictions. This method also differentiates between varying fat contents of the three types of milk which makes a potential platform for composition check within milk. Electromagnetic wave cavity was used as a microwave sensing device to establish the experimental lab setup in conjunction with Vector Network Analyzer.