Physics-Informed Fourier Thermography Transformer for Non-Destructive Detection and Quantification of Braeburn Browning Disorder in Apple
Abstract
Abstract Braeburn browning disorder (BBD) develops within apparently sound apples and therefore remains difficult to remove by conventional colour or surface-defect sorters. This study introduced a physics-informed Fourier thermography transformer (PFT-ViT) that detects and quantifies BBD from the transient thermal response of intact ‘Braeburn’ apples. A structured population of 640 fruit from eight orchard blocks and two harvest dates was exposed to four postharvest atmospheres designed to generate a broad, commercially relevant spectrum of internal injury. Each fruit received a 25-s forced-air cooling pulse, followed by 90 s of long-wave infrared recovery imaging and standardized red–green–blue imaging. Temporal Fourier amplitude and phase maps were encoded together with peel appearance, while ordinal and regression heads jointly predicted the four-level BBD grade and affected flesh area. Destructive radial dissection provided fruit-level reference measurements. In orchard-block- and harvest-grouped validation, PFT-ViT attained 91.9% accuracy, a macro-F1 of 91.7%, and a one-versus-rest area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve of 0.974. For the commercially consequential threshold of grade ≥2, sensitivity and specificity were 92.4 and 93.1%, respectively. Affected flesh area was estimated with a mean absolute error of 2.7 percentage points and an R² of 0.86. Phase information contributed more strongly than peel colour, and performance remained within 1.8…
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