Influence of measurement procedure on the use of a handheld NIR spectrophotometer

The development of portable NIR instruments facilitates widespread use among non-specialists. However, untrained operators may follow non-optimal measurement procedures. This work investigates how different factors in the measurement procedure influence the spectra of pig feed samples produced by SCiO, a handheld NIR. Measurement conditions were studied by means of Design of Experiments and evaluated with analysis of variance - simultaneous component analysis (ANOVA-SCA or ASCA). We quantified and visualized how measurement distance, angle, background lighting, the use of plastic lids and different devices interactively affect the resulting spectra. The samples could be distinguished with 100% accuracy with Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) a scanning distance of 0.5 cm. Replication of the experiment with special attention to reproducing the conditions still lead to some differences, which highlights both the challenges in controlling conditions and the importance of considering them. Based on the results, generalizable guidelines for acceptance of spectra were proposed for this case study. Of main importance are performing measurements at distances of 0.5 cm or at least in an environment without background lighting. Overall, the provided guidelines for measurement conditions and a methodology to investigate this for other devices are a key enabler to spreading handheld spectrometry to a non-expert audience.