Scanning: Best Practices for Harvest Quality Vision

Best Practices for Completing a Successful Scan

While you’re getting familiar with your new Harvest Quality Vision 3.0 (HQV) scanning system, it’s normal to need a little practice in order to take an effective scan sample.

Please pay attention to any on-screen warnings and sounds from the device as they are there to help you take a good scan. Reviewing scan reconstructions on the Croptracker web browser can provide insight into how to achieve the best scanning method as well.

Standard Scan Method

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Hold your tablet so the camera is facing straight down towards the fruit. The device should be level and parallel to the fruit.

The device should be approximately 40cm or 16inches* away from the fruit. If you are too close or too far away from the bin, you cannot start scanning. If your height changes throughout a scan, a warning will appear on the screen. Maintaining a level height is while scanning is important for obtaining accurate information.

Cover the top of the bin following an S-shaped motion and return to the same corner you started at as shown in the animation below.

The green dots will cover areas you have already scanned. You do not need to go over these areas once they have been painted green. Scanning a standard apple bin should take approximately 10-15 seconds. A clicking noise will sound while the camera is actively scanning.

If you move the camera too slow, not enough images will be captured to make a quality scan. If you move the camera too fast, a warning will display on the screen. Moving the camera too fast may result in tracking loss and a decrease in scan accuracy.

Consistent Lighting

Outdoor and bright, even lighting work best for HQV scanning. Sunlight will produce the best results for size and color. When a scan is taking place outdoors, environmental conditions will vary. This is not an issue if the light remains consistent in the moment you are performing your scan. Take note of your light meter – if there is a notable change in lighting while the scan is active, the tracking process may be negatively impacted.

If you are scanning indoors in a dark area, there is a preference that can be enabled to trigger the device's flashlight to come on when scanning.

In some instances, the color accuracy is impacted negatively if the white balance is changed during a scan. This may be because the iPad has auto-adjusted the white balance to a range based on lighting conditions not reflective of the scanning environment. For example, if the iPad camera was in a dark place, and then you immediately attempt to scan in a brighter place without any pause for auto-adjustment, white balance inaccuracies can occur.

Scan Resolution for Small Fruit

When scanning fruit smaller than the standard size (apples), the resolution of the images captured in the scan can be adjusted for better results. In the HQV preference menu, there are options for changing the default resolution of the scans. For fruit that is cherry-sized or smaller, the recommended resolution is ‘Ultra High’. For fruit the size of a prune plum, the ‘High’ resolution setting is recommended.

Check the Scan for Capture Quality

You can assess the quality of your scan’s data capture after you tap the Stop button. Review the scan coverage by moving the camera around the area you just scanned to see that the fruit in the bin is covered fully and that you have not scanned anything that is at a vastly different depth, such as the ground. 

You can also check scan quality by looking at the scan reconstruction on the web browser.

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