A correlation-analysis-based wavelength selection method for calibration transfer

Considering that the spectral signals vary among different instruments, calibration transfer is required for further popularization and application of the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). To achieve good calibration transfer results, spectral variables with stable and consistent signals between instruments and containing the target component information should be selected. In this study, a correlation-analysis-based wavelength selection method (CAWS) is proposed for calibration transfer. This method relies on the selection of wavelengths at which the spectral responses of master and slave instruments are well correlated (high absolute values of Pearson's correlation coefficient (|R_i|)). The proposed CAWS method was applied to two available datasets, corn and rice bran, and its calibration transfer performances were compared with other wavelength selection methods. The effects of pretreatment methods and calibration transfer algorithms were also assessed. The CAWS optimized models obtained lower root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEP_trans) after calibration transfer, suggesting that the proposed method is capable of effectively improving the efficiency of calibration transfer. Combinations of this method with other wavelength selection methods and calibration transfer algorithms may further enhance the efficiency of calibration transfer, and thus should be thoroughly investigated.