Faculty: Dr.Amruta R Behera
Research areas: NIR spectroscopy, chemometrics
Projects:
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Development of NIR spectroscopy-based chemometric models for quality analysis of agri-produce
Project overview:
In the international market of (spectroscopy based) devices for food quality inspection, most of the
developments have happened within the last decade or so. We find that, the technology is still
nascent and there is a lot of scope for indigenous development to become self-reliant. The issues
associated with using imported devices are
(i) increased cost,
(ii) lack of adequate technical support,
and
(iii) access to Material Sensing Models (MSMs) and spectral data acquired by the devices. To
ensure improved access to this technology, and large-scale deployment of the device in the country,
the above-mentioned issues need to be addressed. We intend to empower Indian agri-businesses for
developing MSM libraries relevant to the Indian food and agriculture produce market, while having
complete control on the spectral data acquired by them.
Thus, the goal is to build the capacity and infrastructure for developing a database of NIR spectra
to facilitate development of cost-effective field-deployable material sensing applications. This
will involve building facilities for semi-automated spectral data acquisition, establishing reliable
laboratory measurement methods for generating high quality benchmark values, and setting-up the data
analysis pipeline for predictive model building.
Desired candidate profile:
Masters degree in Physics/Engineering, Knowledgeable about spectroscopy, chemometrics and
multivariate analysis, Past research experience is desired. People with industrial experience will
be preferred.
