Abstract: Apparatus for the spectral assessment of fruit includes a sensor head (10) positioned adjacent a near infrared light source (11). The sensor head is coupled to a spectrometer via fibre optics (30). The sensor head is positioned close to the periphery of fruit substantially parallel with the light from the light source so that the fibre optics sense only the internally reflected or refracted light emanating from the fruit.

Abstract: Apparatus for the spectral assessment of fruit comprising a sensor head (10) positioned adjacent a near infrared light source (11), the sensor head being coupled to a spectrometer via fibre optics (30), the sensor head being positioned close to the periphery of fruit substantially parallel with the light from the light source so that the fibre optics sense only the internally reflected or refracted light emanating from the fruit.

Abstract: An optical apparatus (10) is provided for non-destructive examination of characteristics of an object (102). The apparatus has a light source (28) for directing a beam of NIR Light towards the object (102), an aperture (24) for diverging the NIR beam through or reflected from the object, a collimating lens (30) for collimating the divergent beam, a diffraction device (32) for separating the collimated beam into wavelength components and focusing lens (36) for focusing the wavelength components onto a matrix of photodetectors (34) which in turn produce electrical output signals proportional to energy levels in the wavelength components. The apparatus (10) can be made compact so that it can be used to examine objects in fields. In one example the apparatus (10) has a pistol-shaped housing with a slot (12) in its turret (18) and a body (16) with a display monitor (14). The body (16) also has an opening through which a correlation device (26) in the form of a PCMCIA card can be connected to the apparatus (1).