VOL. 5, NO.

12, DECEMBER 2021 5501504

Sensor systems

U-Shaped Plastic Fiber Optic Sensor for Measuring Adulteration in Liquids

via RGB Color Changes
Jose D. Filoteo-Razo1 , Oscar X. Vera-Duarte1 , Julian M. Estudillo-Ayala1 ,
Juan C. Hernandez-Garcia1,2 , Daniel Jauregui-Vazquez1 , Jose R. Martinez-Angulo3 ,
Juan C. Elizondo-Leal3 , and Roberto Rojas-Laguna1
1 Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica, División de Ingenierías Campus Irapuato-Salamanca, Universidad de Guanajuato,
Salamanca, Gto 36885, México
2 Catedrático CONACYT, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Del. Benito Juárez 03940, México
3 Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias FIC, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas 87049, México

Manuscript received November 1, 2021; accepted November 10, 2021. Date of publication November 16, 2021; date of current version December 2, 2021.

Abstract—Advances in fiber technology have enabled the integration of plastic optical fibers (POFs) with light-emitting
diodes (LEDs) for the development of simple, cost-effective, and sensitive sensing systems. The aim of this letter was
to develop a low-cost device for measuring adulteration in liquids. In this letter, we present a low-cost optoelectronic
system based on a U-shaped POF intrinsic sensor to measure the changes in RGB composition of light transmitted
as an evanescent wave through liquid solutions (tequila–water mixtures). The system comprises a 3 W white LED as
the light source, a 20-cm-long U-shaped POF, and an RGB photodiode (PD) array that detects changes in the RGB
composition of light propagating through the POF. An uncoated 5-mm-long U-shaped POF is in contact with the analyte
solution during the measurements. The system is tested using tequila–water mixtures of different concentrations. The
RGB PD response is recorded digitally, which improves the efficiency and accuracy of the measurement while reducing
the sensitivity of the sensor to external disturbances. The results indicate a system resolution of 0.3 wt% with respect to
the tequila concentration, as well as red, green, and blue color sensitivities of 0.1, 0.6, and 0.4 8-bits/wt%, respectively.
These findings can contribute to the development of an automated system that efficiently measures adulteration in liquids
such as distilled spirits.

Index Terms—Sensor systems, evanescent waves (EWs), fiber optic sensors, plastic optical fiber (POF), RGB color, U-shaped.

I. INTRODUCTION
Fiber-optic sensors are widely used in the optical sensing of phys-
ical properties, such as strain, displacement, temperature, pressure,
velocity, and acceleration, for quantitative measurements in structures
of any shape or size [1]. Unlike copper cables, plastic fiber-optic
cables are not susceptible to electromagnetic interference during light
propagation. Plastic optical fibers (POFs) are low-cost fibers com-
monly used for manufacturing optical sensors. POFs have emerged as
viable alternatives for use in electronic devices [2], [3]. Furthermore,
these advances have led to the development of POF sensors that are
principally used for the detection of properties such as the temperature,
viscosity, concentration, or refractive index of a solution [4].
Further advantages of using electronic devices equipped with POFs
to measure physical properties are that they are unaffected by electro-
magnetic noise, can support broad bandwidths, and can be used at tem-
peratures ranging from –50 to 80 °C [5]. In contrast, the light-emitting
diodes (LEDs) and photodiodes (PDs) used in POF transmitters and
receivers typically operate at wavelengths within the visible spectrum.
Owing to their large diameters (0.5–1.5 mm), POFs can be easily
coupled to light sources such as LEDs to facilitate the development of
low-cost optoelectronic devices [6]. It is important mention that, for
intrinsic sensing applications, POFs can be configured in several ways,
of which in-line, U-shaped, U-bent, and gamma configurations are the
Associate Editor: Xuewen Shu.
Corresponding author: Julian M. Estudillo-Ayala (julian@ugto.mx).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LSENS.2021.3128291
most commonly used [7], [8]. In U-shaped and gamma configurations,
the length of the uncoated fiber and the bending diameter differ for
coated and uncoated fibers. Longer uncoated fibers and fibers with
smaller bending diameters yield better sensitivities and resolutions
[9].
In Mexico, the adulteration of distilled spirits with water, ethanol, or
methanol can cause serious economic and health problems [10]. One
method of measuring the extent of adulteration in spirits is to measure
the change in the refractive index of the liquid. Various methods of
refractive index sensors have been reported [11] using U-shaped POFs
based on evanescent waves (EWs) [12], surface plasmon resonance
[13], and localized surface plasmon resonance [14]. The sensing
method based on EWs involves the use of bare fibers with an exposed
core (direct detection) or cladding (indirect detection) as the sensor
element. In both cases, the liquid interacts with the EW.
U-shaped POFs that utilize low-cost electronic components have
been widely reported, which include LEDs (light source) and PDs
(detector) [12], [15]. PDs can respond much faster to changes in light
intensity [16]. However, owing to their low voltage response, PDs
require amplification stages with instrumentation amplifiers. Their
differential response is obtained from two PDs connected to the input
of a differential amplifier, which serve as the reference (PDreference )
and sensing (PDsensing ) diodes [12]. The sensor response is hence
obtained in analog form. Such responses are more susceptible to signal
disturbances, such as noise and signal degradation. The result is an
analog response with a sensitivity variation of ±2.8 mV. Wang [17]
reported the detection of the refractive index in glycerin solutions
with different refractive indices ranging from 1.33 to 1.42 with a

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5501504
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic and (b) photograph of the optoelectronic sys-
tem for measuring changes in the composition of the light transmitted
through liquid solutions.
sensor in U-shaped POFs pumped with 650 nm red light from a laser
source. Their reported sensitivity of 154 dB/RIU was achieved using
laboratory equipment such as an optical spectrum analyzer, which
makes the system considerably expensive to operate.
To overcome this limitation, we present a low-cost optoelectronic
system based on a U-shaped POF intrinsic sensor for measuring
changes in the RGB composition of light transmitted via EWs through
liquid solutions (tequila–water mixtures). The advantages of our ap-
proach are that the use of a power white LED as the light source
facilitates the excitation of more higher-order modes in the U-shaped
POF section, and little power leakage occurs in the uncoated section.
This modification improves the detection performance, such as sensi-
tivity and resolution. In addition, the proposed system is a significant
improvement on existing methods because it digitally reads the re-
sponses of the RGB PDs. The digitalization improves the efficiency and
precision of the measurement while reducing perturbations in sensor
response, resulting in a color representing the different samples ana-
lyzed. The RGB PDs improve the readout of the spectrum information
by reading three wavelengths, rather than only one as in the case of
a PD. Thus, information related to change in refractive index of the
samples can be more precisely obtained from the broad spectrum of
the white LED. The optoelectronic elements in the system facilitate
a compact and low-cost device that can replace existing expensive
laboratory equipment for detecting liquid adulteration.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experimental setup of the proposed optoelectronic system used
for measuring the level of adulteration in a given liquid is illustrated
in Fig. 1(b). Here, power was supplied to a 3 W white LED (Siled,
LED-P3W200-120/41) by a +5 V source. The POF (Industrial Fiber
Optics, FB140-1-ND) was made of polymethylmethacrylate resin with
a refractive index of 1.49 (numerical aperture = 0.5); the core and
outer diameters were 980 and 1000 μm, respectively. The light was
transmitted by a U-shaped POF, which had a bending radius of 5 mm
(uncoated section) and a diameter of 3 cm. The U-shaped portion has a
polished uncoated section, which facilitates better interaction between
the liquid and sample (tequila–water mixture) [17]. A 3-D plastic piece
was fabricated to provide the U-shaped POF. The uncoated section of
the U-shaped POF was in contact with the liquid. The procedure for
obtaining and recording the measurements is shown in the flow chart in
Fig. 1(a). The light from the white LED enters the fiber and propagates
through the liquid, and the transmitted light is incident on the RGB PD
array. The PD array is connected to an Arduino UNO microcontroller
board, which in turn is connected to a USB port of the computer.
A white cold LED was selected for its higher-intensity white tone
compared to a warm LED. For corroboration, the transmission spec-
trum was measured using an optical spectrum analyzer (USB2000+,
Ocean Optics). The color temperature of the LED indicates whether
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VOL. 5, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2021
Fig. 2. Transmission spectrum of the LED used as a source of white
light.
Fig. 3. Schematic of the operation of the U-shaped POF; α is the
acceptance angle, θ i is the angle of incidence, and θ c is the critical
angle.
it can be considered a cold white light source; its emission spectrum
peaks at 450 nm, which lies in the blue region of the visible spectrum,
as shown in Fig. 2. To maximize the accuracy of the recorded data, the
LED power was maintained at ∼2 W for all measurements. This high
input power reduces the noise in the measured intensity values.
A. Operating Principle
As shown in Fig. 3, the light from the LED propagated from one
end of the U-shaped POF to the other, and the transmitted light was
measured by the RGB PD array. The EW propagating in the uncoated
section of the POF, which was in contact with the tequila–water
mixture, was absorbed. Thus, in this POF section, the liquid solution
functioned as a coating [18]. Depending on the refractive index of the
medium surrounding the uncoated section of the POF, this absorption
resulted in a degree of loss or leakage of the transmitted signal. Light
propagation in the optical fiber occurred via total internal reflection
(TIR) in accordance with Snell’s law; thus, it was dependent on the
angle of incidence θ i , critical angle θ c , and ratio of the refractive
indices of the two media. TIR occurred when θ i > θ c and resulted
in reflection of the incident wave back into the same medium. The
external medium (liquid solution) carried an EW, which traveled along
the interface of the two media with refractive indices n1 (POF core)
and n3 (liquid solution). Therefore, it did not come in contact with the
refractive index n2 (POF coating). The amplitude of the EW decreased
exponentially with distance from the interface. The penetration depth
of an EW is known to vary in the range of 50–1000 nm depending
on the wavelength, refractive index, and θ i [19]. The intensity of light
exiting the POF was detected by the RGB PD array. Because some
of the light was absorbed, the measured RGB color intensity of the
light that passed through the sample was decreased. The light detected
by the PD array was separated into RGB color channels, and their
intensities were measured on an 8-bit scale, indicating that each color
channel had a range of 256 intensity values (0–255).
B. System Testing
To test the optoelectronic system, we first verified the stability of
the U-shaped POF to determine whether the intensity of the white
light, as detected by the RGB PD array, would remain stable over
 VOL. 5, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2021
Fig. 4. Stability of the white light source monitored by the RGB PD
array.
Fig. 5. Fitted line plots for (a) red, (b) blue, and (c) green color
intensities of light transmitted by the samples.
the duration of the experiment. Light intensity measurements were
conducted at 5 min intervals for 1 h. Fig. 4 shows that some variation
occurred in the 8-bit RGB color intensities during the first 20 min
of the experiment. We believe that this variation may have resulted
from P–N junction temperature changes in the LED. Using the LED
required a high applied voltage, which could have caused a large
amount of heat to be generated. After 20 min, the system reached
an equilibrium temperature of 25 °C (ambient temperature), at which
point, the detected RGB color intensities stabilized.
The experiments were performed while maintaining the temperature
of each tequila–water mixture sample at ∼25 °C. Four 50 mL samples
were prepared by mixing different concentrations of tequila and water;
solutions containing 10, 40, 70, and 100 wt% of tequila were used. For
each sample, 50 consecutive measurements of the RGB composition
intensities were made. To ensure measurement stability, the measure-
ments were recorded 20 min after turning on the light source. The
results obtained for each sample were averaged to obtain the mean
RGB color intensity of the light transmitted through it.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
As the percentage of tequila concentration was increased from 10%
(sample A) to 100% (sample D), the measured RGB color intensity
values increased from 66 to 75, 97 to 110, and 176 to 206 for the
red, green, and blue 8-bit channels, respectively. The greater change
in the intensity of the blue color can be attributed to the peak at
450 nm in the spectrum of the white light source. Each RGB color
channel intensity was plotted with respect to the sample concentration
to comprehensively evaluate the variations in samples A–D (Fig. 5).
The data were fitted to formulate an expression for the relationship
between the measured color intensity values and the concentrations
of water and tequila in each sample. The variations in RGB color
intensities were caused by the differences in the refractive indices of the
samples with different concentrations. Fig. 5 shows that increasing the
concentration of tequila resulted in higher RGB color intensity values.
The resolution and sensitivity of the POF intrinsic sensor are impor-
tant parameters of the fiber-optic system. By analyzing the responses
of the transmitted light RGB intensities to the changes in the sample
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5501504
Fig. 6. Transmission spectra of samples A–D.
concentration and associated refractive index changes, we inferred
that the responses for the different RGB channels depend on the
wavelength. The resolution represents the smallest change that the
system can detect and is related to the precision with which the
measurements are performed; therefore, the resolution is affected by
the specifications of the detection system. In this case, a resolution of
0.3 wt% was obtained for these samples. The sensitivity S describes the
relationship between the increase in the output signal and the increase
in the measured variable and is expressed as
∂ fRGB (x)
S = |x → x0 (1)
∂x
where fRGB (x) is a function that fits the dependence of the measured
RGB intensity components on x, which is the mass percentage of
tequila (wt%) in the analyte solution. Substituting the expressions for
fitting each RGB component in (1) yields the following sensitivity
values
SR = 0.1 8−bits/wt%,
SG = 0.6 8−bits/wt%,
SB = 0.4 8−bits/wt%.
These sensitivity parameters indicate that the output power varies
according to the refractive index of the medium surrounding the un-
coated section of the POF. Silicon RGB PDs, which are more sensitive
to shorter wavelengths, were used in this letter. In addition, the light
source facilitates the excitation of more higher order modes in the
U-shaped POF section. As this improves detection performance, in-
cluding the sensitivity and resolution, higher sensitivity was observed
toward the blue and green spectrum.
The sensitivity can be enhanced by modifying the radius of curvature
in the U-shaped section of the POF. The decrease in sensitivity achieved
by altering the radius of curvature is caused by changing the angle
of incidence and number of reflections in the optical fiber, hence
reducing the exposed part of the POF in the liquid medium. Numerous
light rays satisfy the TIR condition within the plastic fiber curve.
This leads to a small increase in the refractive index of the liquid,
resulting in a higher power transmission between the plastic fiber and
liquid medium. However, if the exposed part of the POF in the liquid
medium is large, a significant number of light rays do not satisfy the
TIR condition, leading to decreased power of the transmitted light—in
this case, the exposed part of the POF with the 5 mm liquid. Tests were
conducted to verify these changes in the measurements analyzed with
the RGB PDs. Fig. 6 illustrates the transmission of the spectrum during
measurement with the different samples. The figure depicts an increase
in power with increasing concentrations of the samples from 10 to
100 wt%; the samples had different refractive indices. Thus, a direct
interaction is observed between the EW and the samples. Furthermore,
we can correlate the power change of the spectrum with the change
in concentration of the samples with different refractive indexes. The
same behavior can be verified from Fig. 5, in which the RGB color
changes are observed as the concentration of the samples increases.
5501504
TABLE 1. Refractive Indices of Sample Solutions
TABLE 2. Sensitivity Comparison of Our Approach With Those of
Previous Studies on EW-based U-shaped POF Sensors for Refractive
Index Measurement
Based on these comparisons, we conclude that our system responds
correctly to the refractive index changes.
However, the resolution of multimode optical fibers is limited by
the noise generated because of the interference between the different
modes. To address this limitation, we acquired 50 measurements for
each sample and calculated their average. Because of the spectral
profile of the LED (i.e., the peak at 450 nm), various shades of blue
were observed for the colors of the light transmitted by the analyzed
samples. Table 1 lists the computed approximate refractive index (n)
values of the analyte solutions [18]. The refractive index showed
a linear dependence on the solution concentration. Therefore, our
low-cost optoelectronic system can be used to determine the degree
of adulteration in liquid solutions. For example, this system can be
applied to measure tequila adulteration; the alcohol content of tequila
(35–55%) must be controlled to prevent diluted products from entering
the market. Compared to the previous studies noted herein [20], the
refractive indexes of silver and aged tequila were 1.35279 ± 0.00085
and 1.35209 ± 0.00153, respectively. Therefore, it was found that
sample B in Table I presents an adequate approximation with the
percentage of alcohol in tequila used for analysis of the tests. Table 2
presents a comparison of our proposed approach with other EW-based
U-shaped optical fiber sensors for refractive index measurement. It was
confirmed that the proposed sensor exhibits a higher and more stable
sensitivity because the digital signal is less susceptible to noise, as is
evident from the analog response, which shows a variation of ±2.8 mV
[12]. The use of RGB PDs facilitates the design of an adulteration
detection system for liquids, which can quickly and accurately detect
small color differences. By adopting a white light source, color changes
could be used to determine the refractive index of the sample.
IV. CONCLUSION
This letter presented the development of an optoelectronic system
designed to measure the level of adulteration in liquids. The level of
adulteration was sensed by a U-shaped RGB sensor. Additionally, no
expensive laboratory equipment (e.g., an optical spectrum analyzer)
was required in this letter. The results show the effectiveness of the
proposed system in measuring the level to which tequila is diluted
with water. In future studies, we intend to enhance these sensitivities
by decreasing the radius of curvature of the POF. The results of this
study are expected to facilitate the design of a low-cost prototype for
measuring the degree of liquid adulteration of distilled spirits with
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VOL. 5, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2021
ethanol or methanol. Considering the fact that in countries such as
Mexico, tequila is often illegally produced with ethanol and methanol,
and devices such as this may help prevent a significant number of
related deaths.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by the CONACYT projects Researchers for Mexico
Cátedras-CONACYT no. 3155 and no. A1-S-33363/CB2018, and in part by the University
of Guanajuato through the Research and Postgraduate Support Department (DAIP) Projects
no. CIIC 039/2021 and no. CIIC 073/2021. The work of J. D. Filoteo-Razo was supported
by the CONACYT under Grant 477506.
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