Variability of Cole-model bioimpedance parameters using magnitude-only measurements of apples from a two-electrode configuration

Electrical impedance measurements have been widely researched to monitor physiological changes in fruits and vegetables in a nondestructive manner. Recently, the parameters of the Cole bioimpedance model (R0, R1, C, and α), an equivalent circuit that is widely used to represent the electrical impedance of biological tissues, were extracted using techniques without direct impedance measurements. In this study, the variability of the Cole parameters extracted from magnitude-only measurements (from 200 Hz to 1 MHz) of apples in a two-electrode setup was examined to understand the impact of electrode placement on the parameters evaluated using this technique. Eight electrodes were placed around the center latitudinal line of apples to collect seven sets of measurements from four different varieties (Granny Smith, Fuji, Red Delicious, and Spartan). The Cole impedance parameters were extracted in MATLAB from the collected measurements using a nonlinear least squares fitting method. These extractions indicated that the parameters R0 and R1 had the highest variability based on the electrode location, whereas the dispersion coefficient (α) had the lowest variability. © 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.