coil; (B) photograph of milk cartons with attached RFID sensors. ... Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana, Punjab for ...
19th Indian Agricultural Scientists & Farmers’ Congress, Bioved Krishi Prodyogiki Gram,Moharab, Allahabad
Frequency Based Sensor and Their Role in Paneer Preparation and Its Spoilage Rajni Kanta, Subhradeep Samaddera, P. P. Srivastava, S. S. Pathakb and A. K. Dattaa a Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, b Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur - 721302, India
Introduction
Reader
Food Freshness is a key factor for public safety. Management and monitoring of food quality are important in food storage and transition. Food safety issue is a vital concern as shown in the Hazard and Critical Control Point (HACCP) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The development of sensors for detecting food borne pathogens has been motivated by need to
Fig.6. Output of the reader’s detector circuit (top trace) resulting from the tag’s control signal (bottom trace)
produce safe foods and to provide better healthcare (Irudayaraj, 2009). Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems have found favour over other identification and inventory techniques chiefly due to their non-line-of-sight operation and capability to function in adverse environments.
Tag The tag is an LC circuit with component values chosen for a resonant frequency of 13.56 MHz. When the tag comes in the near field of the reader, a voltage is induced in the antenna, which forms the inductance part of the tank circuit.
The frequency of RFID systems can vary from the lower ranges of the spectrum around 135 kHz to the SHF range at 5.875 GHz.
Fig.7. Antenna modelling using NEC Win Pro
Experimental Setup
Fig.1. Photo of the reader with antenna and other circuitry
Fig.2. Crystal-controlled oscillator circuit
Fig.8. Schematic of the reader and tag circuits
Fig.9. Response at the reader with the tag in vicinity
Fig.10. A photo shows the proof-of-concept Fig.11. Response of the tag with microcontroller tag circuit Fig.3. Output waveform of the oscillator
Fig.4. Detector followed by an amplifier
Applications
General Principles of Design and Operation of RFID Food Sensors
Monitoring of Milk Freshness
Figure 12. Automatic non-invasive determination of milk freshness: (A) photograph of a milk carton with an attached RFID sensor, pick-up coil, and a second RFID sensor; (B, C) front panel of written program for automatic determination of the resonant properties of the sensors without the positioning effects of sensors relative to the pick-up coil. The program was able to discriminate between cartons with fresh and spoiled milk.
Future Developments This study demonstrated the applicability of our RFID sensors for the monitoring of different aspects of food quality including freshness, aging, and spoilage. In contrast to known wireless sensors, our developed RFID sensors combine several measured parameters from the resonant sensor antenna with multivariate data analysis and deliver a unique capability of sensing with rejection of environmental interferences with a single sensor. Future steps are being planned for field-testing of these sensors in numerous conditions. Figure 5. RFID sensor layout for demonstration of determination of milk freshness: (A) schematic of sensor positioning onto milk carton and sensor-response readout with a pick-up coil; (B) photograph of milk cartons with attached RFID sensors.
Acknowledgement The authors would like to thanks Post Harvest Engineering and Technology(PHET), ICAR-Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana, Punjab for providing funds. References J. C. Buzby and T. Roberts, “Economic costs and trade impacts of microbial foodborn eillness,” World Health Statistics Quarterly, vol. 50, pp. 57–66, 1997.
FST Lab, Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302
