IndexAbstractIntroductionSchemePrototype design parametersInfrared detection circuitPenetration depth and penetration powerInterface of PIC16F18877 to the infrared detection circuitIdentificationCircuit descriptionSimulation of the PIC interfaced with the IRS moduleSoftware simulationResults and conclusionsFuture workReferencesAbstractMillions of tons of food are processed and packaged by people and machines. Therefore, there is a possibility that food manufacturers and suppliers may not capture all items that do not belong to the product. When a person consumes a food that contains a foreign object, they may suffer physical or emotional harm. This article describes a working prototype that non-destructively identifies the presence of foreign objects in food products. The infrared sensor module consists of a source and a detector which detects the presence of foreign objects and then sends the signal to the PIC16F877A microcontroller which thereby indicates the edible, non-defective and edible defective food products using LED indications. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay IntroductionProducing food safe for consumption is not very easy nowadays due to the growing demand for food and is highly susceptible to contamination from the external environment. So, there are chances that one or more foreign bodies may be present in the food. These foreign objects can be dangerous to consumers or even deadly; therefore food quality control is essential. In the past, mechanical separation methods were used to separate foreign bodies from food. However, there is still no adequate technology for food quality control. This paper therefore introduces a non-destructive sensing module to overcome the difficulties encountered in food quality processing using the infrared principle. A study states that when nearly eight lakh food products were scanned, more than three thousand products had metal contamination in the form of strips or wires, metal balls and hair clips of various sizes, usually in the millimeter range [1] . Furthermore, the presence of living organisms that may be undesirable in food compromises the quality of the food. Therefore, a cost-effective method is needed to ensure food quality. The most commonly used technique for detecting foreign bodies in food is the generation of ultrasonic waves. These waves are partially reflected on the surface of the foreign body. But the main disadvantage of this technique is that it only works well in acoustic environments, mainly water. Therefore, this technique is largely only suitable for fruits and vegetables, due to the moisture content present on their surface [2]. However, ultrasound works well for sponge and wood. But it requires correlation with infrared for substances similar to cardboard and paper [3]. Furthermore, environmental factors create an obstacle to ultrasonic waves by modifying their speed and adapting to the surrounding environment [4]. Therefore, foreign body detection using infrared radiation proves to be more efficient and economical. Design parameters of the prototype scheme The proposed system is designed for non-destructive detection of foreign bodies in food products. The prototype consists of a PIC microcontroller and an infrared sensing circuit which is a combination of photodiode and LED. After interfacing the sensor with thePIC microcontroller, you can perform other additional functions by improving the operation of the microcontroller for its effective operation in determining defective and non-defective food products. This prototype can be used in industries for quality assessment of their final products. Infrared Detection Circuit An infrared detection circuit consists of an infrared source and an infrared detector. The source is essentially an LED that provides the necessary infrared radiation. These radiations then reflect and fall on the detector, which is basically a photodiode. Depending on the amount of radiation it provides a threshold value to the microcontroller circuit. This threshold value differs for defective and non-defective products, due to the presence of foreign bodies in defective food products. Penetration Depth and Penetration Power IR sensors are placed at regular intervals on both sides of the sample to avoid missing any part of the sample during analysis. The penetration depth of IR was found to be between 1 and 4 mm and is suitable for foreign object detection. To achieve deeper penetration, we use near-infrared light ranging from 750-800 nm which results in greater penetration power. Interfacing the PIC16F18877 to the Infrared Sensing CircuitThe output of the IR sensor module is connected to (pin number 2) RA0 of the PIC16F877A which allows PORTB to be configured as an input with TRISB registers and the output which will be displayed on the LED is connected to respectively RD7, RD6, RD5 (pin number 30,29,28) (PORTD) and RB0 (pin number 33) and RB1 (pin number 34) (PORTB) which are defined as output pins. Identification The output of the microcontroller is displayed as follows. When no foreign object is detected in the food sample, the LED lights up green. When there is a foreign object inside the sample, the LED changes color from green to red. Also included inside this unit is a buzzer that activates when the LED turns red. Circuit Description The three pins of the infrared sensing module are connected to the rest of the circuit. Of the two pins, one is connected to the module's input power supply and the other to GND. The third pin of the infrared module is output from the module which acts as a control pin. This output from the module is connected via the control pin as a sensor input to the PIC16F877A microcontroller. The control output from the infrared sensing circuit is connected to RA0 (pin number 2) of a PIC16F877A microcontroller, and the microcontroller will consider it as digital input to read 1 or 0. The microcontroller can only read voltages as input (high or low ) by configuring the input pins as digital to read 1 or 0 from the sensor. Since the output from the module is digital, we can bypass the use of the ADC within the microcontroller by configuring ADCON0bits to 0.ADON = 0. This output from the IR sensing module will cause the PIC16F877A to respond via a bright LED. You can get unstable results with the default 1 MHZ oscillator, so the microcontroller is tuned to 8MHZ and thus solving the problem, in the PIC16F877A the frequency of 8 MHz is achieved by configuring the OSCCON bit settings, i.e. by setting OSCCONbits. IRCF0 = 1.Simulation of interfacing the PIC with the IR module. The non-defective product will be pre-stored as 1 in the microcontroller. Then, this preset value will be compared with the input obtained on the microcontroller and accordingly the LED will light up indicating the quality of the product. If the input on the microcontroller is 1, then the green LED will light up or the red LED will light up and a buzzer will also sound which.