Detection of foreign materials in cotton using a multi-wavelength imaging method

摘要

Technologies currently in use cannot effectively detect foreign materials in cotton because they appear the same as the cotton fibres. The objective of this research was to develop a multiwavelength imaging system (MIS) for detecting foreign materials in the spectral region from 405 nm to 940 nm. This method is based on the principle that different materials have different spectral absorptions and reflectance characteristics. Through experiments, we determined an optimal wavelength for detecting each particular kind of foreign material. Then multi-wavelength images of foreign materials were captured using a CCD camera at different optimal wavelengths for each source of illumination. An image fusion algorithm based on wavelet analysis was created to acquire complete information on foreign materials. Imaging results showed that a combination of the wavelengths 405 nm and 850 nm was the most appropriate for detection of a wide range of foreign materials, and this provided an effective method for the detection of these foreign materials in cotton.