{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T11:48:21Z","timestamp":1784202501064,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,24]],"date-time":"2015-11-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1448323200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Lateral flow assay tests are nowadays becoming powerful, low-cost diagnostic tools. Obtaining a result is usually subject to visual interpretation of colored areas on the test by a human operator, introducing subjectivity and the possibility of errors in the extraction of the results. While automated test readers providing a result-consistent solution are widely available, they usually lack portability. In this paper, we present a smartphone-based automated reader for drug-of-abuse lateral flow assay tests, consisting of an inexpensive light box and a smartphone device. Test images captured with the smartphone camera are processed in the device using computer vision and machine learning techniques to perform automatic extraction of the results. A deep validation of the system has been carried out showing the high accuracy of the system. The proposed approach, applicable to any line-based or color-based lateral flow test in the market, effectively reduces the manufacturing costs of the reader and makes it portable and massively available while providing accurate, reliable results.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s151129569","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,24]],"date-time":"2015-11-24T12:08:12Z","timestamp":1448366892000},"page":"29569-29593","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":123,"title":["Automated Low-Cost Smartphone-Based Lateral Flow Saliva Test Reader for Drugs-of-Abuse Detection"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Adrian","family":"Carrio","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Vision Group, Centre for Automation and Robotics (UPM-CSIC), Calle Jos\u00e9 Guti\u00e9rrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carlos","family":"Sampedro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Vision Group, Centre for Automation and Robotics (UPM-CSIC), Calle Jos\u00e9 Guti\u00e9rrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5018-0925","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jose","family":"Sanchez-Lopez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Vision Group, Centre for Automation and Robotics (UPM-CSIC), Calle Jos\u00e9 Guti\u00e9rrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miguel","family":"Pimienta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aplitest Health Solutions, Paseo de la Castellana 164, Madrid 28046, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9894-2009","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pascual","family":"Campoy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Vision Group, Centre for Automation and Robotics (UPM-CSIC), Calle Jos\u00e9 Guti\u00e9rrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3699","DOI":"10.1021\/ac800112r","article-title":"Simple telemedicine for developing regions: Camera phones and paper-based microfluidic devices for real-time, off-site diagnosis","volume":"80","author":"Martinez","year":"2008","journal-title":"Anal. Chem."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1787","DOI":"10.1039\/c003477k","article-title":"Lensfree microscopy on a cellphone","volume":"10","author":"Tseng","year":"2010","journal-title":"Lab Chip"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1039\/C0LC00358A","article-title":"Cost-effective and compact wide-field fluorescent imaging on a cell-phone","volume":"11","author":"Zhu","year":"2011","journal-title":"Lab Chip"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2541","DOI":"10.1039\/c2an35071h","article-title":"Quantum dot enabled detection of Escherichia coli using a cell-phone","volume":"137","author":"Zhu","year":"2012","journal-title":"Analyst"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"178","DOI":"10.1007\/s11036-011-0295-5","article-title":"Rapid dengue and outbreak detection with mobile systems and social networks","volume":"17","author":"Matthews","year":"2012","journal-title":"Mob. Netw. Appl."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dell, N.L., Venkatachalam, S., Stevens, D., Yager, P., and Borriello, G. (2011, January 28). Towards a point-of-care diagnostic system: Automated analysis of immunoassay test data on a cell phone. Proceedings of the 5th ACM Workshop on Networked Systems for Developing Regions, New York, NY, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1999927.1999931"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2678","DOI":"10.1039\/c2lc40235a","article-title":"Integrated rapid-diagnostic-test reader platform on a cellphone","volume":"12","author":"Mudanyali","year":"2012","journal-title":"Lab Chip"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mudanyali, O., Padmanabhan, S., Dimitrov, S., Navruz, I., Sikora, U., and Ozcan, A. (2012, January 6\u20139). Smart rapid diagnostics test reader running on a cell-phone for real-time mapping of epidemics. Proceedings of the Second ACM Workshop on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services for HealthCare, Toronto, ON, Canada.","DOI":"10.1145\/2396276.2396278"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4240","DOI":"10.1039\/c2lc40741h","article-title":"Point-of-care colorimetric detection with a smartphone","volume":"12","author":"Shen","year":"2012","journal-title":"Lab Chip"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3232","DOI":"10.1039\/c3lc50431j","article-title":"Smartphone based health accessory for colorimetric detection of biomarkers in sweat and saliva","volume":"13","author":"Oncescu","year":"2013","journal-title":"Lab Chip"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"De la Fuente, J.B., Garcia, M.P., Cueli, J.G., and Cifuentes, D. (2006, January 24\u201327). A new low-cost reader system for ELISA plates based on automated analysis of digital pictures. Proceedings of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, Sorrento, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/IMTC.2006.328251"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Velikova, M., Lucas, P., Smeets, R., and van Scheltinga, J. (2012, January 20\u201322). Fully-automated interpretation of biochemical tests for decision support by smartphones. Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on Computer-based Medical Systems, Roma, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/CBMS.2012.6266352"},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"DrugCheck VeriCheck. Available online: http:\/\/www.drugcheck.com\/dc_vericheck.html."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Securetec DrugRead. Available online: http:\/\/www.securetec.net\/en\/products\/drug-test\/drugread-device.html."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"DrugCheck SalivaScan. Available online: http:\/\/www.drugcheck.com\/dc_salivascan.html."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rublee, E., Rabaud, V., Konolige, K., and Bradski, G. (2011, January 6\u201313). ORB: An efficient alternative to SIFT or SURF. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, Barcelona, Spain.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCV.2011.6126544"},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Rosten, E., and Drummond, T. (2006). Computer Vision\u2013ECCV 2006, Springer."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1109\/TPAMI.2008.275","article-title":"Faster and better: A machine learning approach to corner detection","volume":"32","author":"Rosten","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Calonder, M., Lepetit, V., Strecha, C., and Fua, P. (2010). Computer Vision\u2013ECCV 2010, Springer."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1002\/j.1538-7305.1950.tb00463.x","article-title":"Error detecting and error correcting codes","volume":"29","author":"Hamming","year":"1950","journal-title":"Bell Syst. Tech. J."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"381","DOI":"10.1145\/358669.358692","article-title":"Random sample consensus: A paradigm for model fitting with applications to image analysis and automated cartography","volume":"24","author":"Fischler","year":"1981","journal-title":"Commun. ACM"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"62","DOI":"10.1109\/TSMC.1979.4310076","article-title":"A threshold selection method from gray-level histograms","volume":"9","author":"Otsu","year":"1979","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Systems Man Cybern."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"303","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02551274","article-title":"Approximation by superpositions of a sigmoidal function","volume":"2","author":"Cybenko","year":"1989","journal-title":"Math. Control Signals Syst."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Synergent Biochem Inc. Homepage. Available online: http:\/\/www.synergentbiochem.com."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/15\/11\/29569\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T20:52:37Z","timestamp":1760215957000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/15\/11\/29569"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,24]]},"references-count":24,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,11]]}},"alternative-id":["s151129569"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s151129569","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,24]]}}}