Method and system of detecting foreign materials within an agricultural product stream

A method of detecting foreign material within an agricultural product stream in real-time, the method comprising:

• illuminating a portion of the agricultural product stream with light spanning a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths;
• scanning a line of the illuminated agricultural product stream to acquire a hyperspectral image of the line, the hyperspectral image of the line having a width of a single pixel;
• processing the hyperspectral image of the scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of the hyperspectral image of the scanned line;
• and
• comparing the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the agricultural product stream;
• wherein multiple lines of agricultural product stream are individually scanned consecutively, and the consecutively scanned lines are separately processed in-real time without constructing a hyperspectral image cube of the multiple lines.

A method of detecting foreign material within an agricultural product stream in real-time, the method comprising:

• illuminating a portion of the agricultural product stream with light spanning a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths;
• scanning a line of the illuminated agricultural product stream to acquire a hyperspectral image of the line, the hyperspectral image of the line having a width of a single pixel;
• processing the hyperspectral image of the scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of the hyperspectral image of the scanned line;
• and
• comparing the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the agricultural product stream;
• wherein the predetermined spectrum data is a threshold value associated with a single product material, a class of product materials, a single known foreign material, or a class of known foreign materials, and the threshold value is determined by a method comprising:
• illuminating the product material, a class of product materials, a known foreign material, and/or a class of known foreign materials with light spanning a wavelength range including near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths;
• separately scanning the product material, the class of product materials, the known foreign material, and/or the class of known foreign materials to acquire hyperspectral reflectance image data for at least one of the respective product material, the class of product materials, the known foreign material, or the class of known foreign materials;
• calculating, for at least one of the respective product material, the class of product materials, the known foreign material, or the class of known foreign materials, a mean value of reflectance intensity;
• and
• based upon the one or more calculated mean values of reflectance intensity, determining the threshold value associated with at least one of the respective product material, the class of product materials, the known foreign material, or the class of known foreign materials.

A method of detecting foreign material within an agricultural product stream in real-time, the method comprising:

• illuminating a portion of the agricultural product stream with light spanning a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths;
• scanning a line of the illuminated agricultural product stream to acquire a hyperspectral image of the line, the hyperspectral image of the line having a width of a single pixel;
• processing the hyperspectral image of the scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of the hyperspectral image of the scanned line;
• and
• comparing the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the agricultural product stream;
• wherein multiple lines of agricultural product stream are individually scanned consecutively, and the consecutively scanned lines are separately processed in-real time;
• the method further comprising:
• generating a signal indicative of a false positive when foreign matter is detected in only a single scanned line.

A method of detecting foreign material within an agricultural product stream in real-time, the method comprising:

• illuminating a portion of the agricultural product stream with light spanning a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths;
• scanning a line of the illuminated agricultural product stream to acquire a hyperspectral image of the line, the hyperspectral image of the line having a width of a single pixel;
• processing the hyperspectral image of the scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of the hyperspectral image of the scanned line;
• and
• comparing the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the agricultural product stream;
• wherein:
• (a) the method is performed without the implementation of end member extraction algorithms so as to reduce processing time;
• (b) the predetermined spectrum data does not include full spectrum fingerprint data so as to reduce storage requirements of a system implementing the method;
• and/or
• (c) the method does not require the acquisition of dark and white references so as to reduce storage requirements of a system implementing the method.

A system for detecting foreign material within an agricultural product stream in real-time, the system comprising:

• an illumination device configured to illuminate a portion of the agricultural product stream at a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths;
• a hyperspectral imaging device configured to consecutively scan multiple lines of the illuminated agricultural product stream to acquire a hyperspectral image of each consecutively scanned line, the hyperspectral image of the consecutively scanned lines each having a width of a single pixel;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• separately process the hyperspectral images of each consecutively scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of each hyperspectral image of the of the consecutively scanned lines in-real time,
• separately analyze each consecutively scanned line to determine, for each scanned line, whether foreign material is detected;
• compare the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the agricultural product stream;
• and
• map the foreign material when foreign material is detected in two or more consecutively scanned lines.

A method of detecting foreign material within stationary agricultural product in real-time, the method comprising:

• illuminating a portion of the stationary agricultural product with light spanning a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths;
• moving a hyperspectral imaging device over a portion of the stationary agricultural product while simultaneously scanning a line of the illuminated stationary agricultural product to acquire a hyperspectral image of the line, the hyperspectral image of the line having a width of a single pixel;
• processing the hyperspectral image of the scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of the hyperspectral image of the scanned line;
• and
• comparing the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the stationary agricultural product;
• wherein multiple lines of agricultural product stream are individually scanned consecutively, and the consecutively scanned lines are separately processed in-real time;
• the method further comprising separately analyzing each consecutively scanned line to determine, for each scanned line, whether foreign material is detected;
• and mapping the foreign material when foreign material is detected in two or more consecutively scanned lines.