Design of a Smart System for Rapid Bacterial Test

In this article, we present our initial findings to support the design of an advanced field test to detect bacterial contamination in water samples. The system combines the use of image processing and neural networks to detect an early presence of bacterial activity. We present here a proof of concept with some tests results. Our initial findings are very promising and indicate detection of viable bacterial cells within a period of 2 h. To the authors’ knowledge this is the first attempt to quantify viable bacterial cells in a water sample using cell splitting. We also present a detailed design of the complete system that uses the time lapse images from a microscope to complete the design of a neural network based smart system.