Research & Review: Electronics and Communication Engineering

A Comprehensive Review on Automatic Fruit Sorting and Grading Techniques with Emphasis on Weight-based Classification

Diksha Waghmare — 2025-10-04

Fruit sorting and grading are critical processes in post-harvest management, directly influencing product quality, market value, and customer satisfaction. Traditionally, sorting has been performed manually, which is labor-intensive, inconsistent, and prone to error. With the advancement of automation, diverse techniques such as weight-based classification, image processing, multi-sensor systems, and AI-driven solutions have emerged to enhance accuracy, efficiency, and scalability. This review highlights recent developments in fruit sorting technologies, with a special emphasis on weight-based systems that employ load cells and microcontrollers for affordable and reliable classification. Vision-based approaches, radar techniques, and hybrid systems integrating weight, moisture, or color sensors are also analyzed for their strengths and limitations. Comparative insights from existing studies demonstrate improvements in precision, throughput, and adaptability, but challenges remain in cost-effectiveness, scalability, and integration for small-scale farmers. The review concludes that weight-based systems offer a simple yet effective foundation for automation, while advanced sensor fusion and AI methods hold promise for future applications. By bridging electronics, automation, and agriculture, automated fruit sorting systems represent a step toward smart farming, ensuring better quality control, productivity enhancement, and sustainable food processing practices.

Simulation-based Antenna Design Using MATLAB App Designer

Narmatha D. — 2025-10-07

Designing and simulating antennas is essential in today’s communication through wireless, as it ensures effective signal propagation and reception. MATLAB App Designer provides an intuitive and interactive platform for developing customized applications to streamline the antenna design and simulation process. This study presents a systematic procedure for designing and analyzing antennas using MATLAB App Designer, integrating the MATLAB Antenna Toolbox for performance evaluation. The proposed approach enables users to visualize the antenna parameters and optimize designs based on simulation results. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of MATLAB App Designer in creating user-friendly interfaces for antenna analysis. As a result, it is highly useful for professionals and researchers in the areas of electromagnetics and wireless communications.

Embedded Vision and Thermal Screening for Automated Door Lock Control

K. Arun Kumar — 2025-10-15

This study presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of an automatic door locking system that integrates real-time face-mask detection with thermal screening to enhance public safety in indoor environments. The proposed system uses a single-board computer for image acquisition and processing, a convolutional neural network for mask detection, and an infrared thermal sensor for fever screening. Decision logic fuses visual and thermal inputs to automatically control door actuation: authorized, non-febrile and properly masked individuals cause the door to unlock, while individuals failing either check are denied access and logged. Experimental results from a laboratory prototype show mask-detection accuracy above 96% under varied lighting and pose conditions and fever-detection consistency within ±0.5°C of a reference thermometer. The integrated system demonstrates a practical, low-cost solution for access control during infectious-disease outbreaks. Unlike prior works that treat these functions independently, this study implements both modalities on a single low-cost embedded platform, ensuring real-time operation, privacy preservation, and scalability. The proposed system provides a practical, deployable, and contactless solution applicable to healthcare, education, transport, and corporate environments during and beyond pandemic conditions.