RGB color sensor implemented with LEDs

This paper presents the design and implementation of an optical sensor to detect color changes in fruit by means of white light reflection to measure fruit ripeness in industrial and agricultural applications. The system consists of a LED RGB array including photodetectors, a power source and plastic optic fiber (POF). By means of Labview (R) graphic interface we can control the power emission of the diodes digitally mixing the colors at different intensities until we achieve white light to be used as a source for the color sensor. We used an ATmega2560 microcontroller as a data collection device to monitor the colors obtained and to show them as color models using Matlab (R). We show results from tests conducted using two guava samples, observing the evolution of the color change on the fruit skin until they became overripe.