Automatic Classification of Chickpea Varieties Using Computer Vision Techniques

There are about 90 different varieties of chickpeas around the world. In Iran, where this study takes place, there are five species that are the most popular (Adel, Arman, Azad, Bevanij and Hashem), with different properties and prices. However, distinguishing them manually is difficult because they have very similar morphological characteristics. In this research, two different computer vision methods for the classification of the variety of chickpeas are proposed and compared. The images were captured with an industrial camera in Kermanshah, Iran. The first method is based on color and texture features extraction, followed by a selection of the most effective features, and classification with a hybrid of artificial neural networks and particle swarm optimization (ANN-PSO). The second method is not based on an explicit extraction of features; instead, image patches (RGB pixel values) are directly used as input for a three-layered backpropagation ANN. The first method achieved a correct classification rate (CCR) of 97.0%, while the second approach achieved a CCR of 99.3%. These results prove that visual classification of fruit varieties in agriculture can be done in a very precise way using a suitable method. Although both techniques are feasible, the second method is generic and more easily applicable to other types of crops, since it is not based on a set of given features.This research was funded by the Spanish MICINN, as well as European Commission FEDER funds, under grant RTI2018-098156-B-C53. It has also been supported by the European Union (EU) under Erasmus + project entitled "Fostering Internationalization in Agricultural Engineering in Iran and Russia [FARmER]" with grant number 585596-EPP-1-2017-1-DE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

Estudio y análisis de la accesibilidad para personas con discapacidad física en el acceso a comercios y locales de la ciudad de Murcia

With a worldwide percentage of people with disabilities around 15%, universal accessibility is a fundamental consideration in the habitable design of buildings. Moreover, due to the current aging of the population, especially in Spain, this will be a key factor of sustainability from the human point of view. This paper presents a case study of accessibility in the entrance to shops in the city of Murcia, Spain. First, the applicable accessibility regulations and the criteria of the users obtained from the Regional Federation FAMDIF are exposed, and then the extensive field work carried out is described; more than 650 commercial and service premises have been analyzed in situ by technical personnel. By volume, it is one of the largest studies to date. As a result, it has been obtained that only 1/5 of the premises are accessible in the entrance, while almost 3/4 do not comply with current regulations. We believe that this work will help raise awareness to improve physical accessibility in the future.Con un porcentaje mundial de personas con discapacidad del 15%, la accesibilidad universal resulta una consideración fundamental en el diseño habitable de los edificios. Además, debido al envejecimiento de la población, especialmente en España, este será un factor clave de la sostenibilidad desde el punto de vista humano. Este artículo presenta un caso de estudio de la accesibilidad en el acceso a comercios de la ciudad de Murcia. En primer lugar, se expone la normativa de accesibilidad aplicable y los criterios de los usuarios a través de la Federación Murciana FAMDIF, para después describir el extenso trabajo de campo llevado a cabo, donde se han analizado in situ más de 650 comercios y locales de servicios por personal técnico. Por su volumen, se trata de uno de los mayores estudios realizados hasta la fecha. Como resultado, se ha obtenido que solo 1/5 de los locales son accesibles en la entrada, mientras que casi 3/4 no cumplen las normativas vigentes. Creemos que este trabajo ayudará a concienciar y a mejorar la accesibilidad física en el futuro

Identification of internal defects in potato using spectroscopy and computational intelligence based on majority voting techniques

Producción CientíficaPotatoes are one of the most demanded products due to their richness in nutrients. However, the lack of attention to external and, especially, internal defects greatly reduces its marketability and makes it prone to a variety of diseases. The present study aims to identify healthy-looking potatoes but with internal defects. A visible (Vis), near-infrared (NIR), and short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectrometer was used to capture spectral data from the samples. Using a hybrid of artificial neural networks (ANN) and the cultural algorithm (CA), the wavelengths of 861, 883, and 998 nm in Vis/NIR region, and 1539, 1858, and 1896 nm in the SWIR region were selected as optimal. Then, the samples were classified into either healthy or defective class using an ensemble method consisting of four classifiers, namely hybrid ANN and imperialist competitive algorithm (ANN-ICA), hybrid ANN and harmony search algorithm (ANN-HS), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and k-nearest neighbors (KNN), combined with the majority voting (MV) rule. The performance of the classifier was assessed using only the selected wavelengths and using all the spectral data. The total correct classification rates using all the spectral data were 96.3% and 86.1% in SWIR and Vis/NIR ranges, respectively, and using the optimal wavelengths 94.1% and 83.4% in SWIR and Vis/NIR, respectively. The statistical tests revealed that there are no significant differences between these datasets. Interestingly, the best results were obtained using only LDA, achieving 97.7% accuracy for the selected wavelengths in the SWIR spectral range.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; Agencia Estatal de Investigación y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) - (grant RTI2018-098156-B-C53

Estimación de la profundidad radicular de cultivos hortícolas a partir de imágenes de la cubierta vegetal para su empleo en gestión del riego

El balance hídrico es una metodología ampliamente utilizada en diversos sistemas de programación automática del riego, básicamente en cultivos intensivos y sistemas de microirrigación. Un aspecto de gran importancia para la aplicación del balance hídrico es conocer la profundidad del sistema radicular de la planta, pues permite acotar el volumen de suelo a considerar en dicho balance. En la mayoría de ocasiones, la evolución real de este parámetro no es considerada, recurriéndose a utilizar valores fijos tabulados o propuestos por la bibliografía, hecho que provoca que los valores considerados no se correspondan con los reales, generando situaciones de estrés hídrico o sobresaturación del perfil del suelo, que afectan al normal desarrollo del cultivo. La profundidad radicular es un parámetro que puede ser estimado a partir de fotografías digitales del dosel vegetal, al observarse una excelente relación entre este parámetro y la fracción de cobertura vegetal, éste último directamente relacionado también con el desarrollo del cultivo y su demanda evapotranspirativa. En base a esta relación, se han obtenido modelos matemáticos para la estimación del espesor de la zona radicular de un cultivo de lechuga variedad ‘Little Gem’, utilizando la fracción de cobertura vegetal como variable de entrada en el modelo, obtenida a partir del procesamiento informático de imágenes digitales de la cubierta vegetal. Su implantación en un sistema automatizado de gestión del riego permitirá la optimización hídrica, al ajustar el contenido hídrico del suelo a la zona realmente explorada por la raíces.Los autores agradecen a la Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia la financiación de este trabajo de investigación mediante los proyectos 8729/PI/08 y 08754/PI/08

Design and Development of a Mobile App for Accessible Beach Tourism Information for People with Disabilities

The global increase in the proportion of the population with disabilities has caused a greater awareness toward guaranteeing their use of public services. In particular, there is emphasis on the accessibility and inclusivity of tourism resources, to improve the enjoyment and well-being for people with motor disabilities. This paper presents a case study on accessibility to beaches in the Region of Murcia, Spain, which is one of the main tourist areas in the country. First, the most important elements that allow for the accessible use of beaches are analyzed and exposed in detail. Then, an extensive field-work in the area of interest has been carried out and its results are evaluated. Finally, the development of a new mobile app is described. The objective of this tool is to provide updated, accurate, and reliable accessibility information regarding the beaches. As a result, more than a third of the beaches analyzed had a high level of accessibility, while almost another third are totally inaccessible. The proposed application is a valuable tool, not only to help people with physical and motor disabilities, but also to raise awareness among local authorities to create and improve accessible services.This work was supported by the Spanish MICINN, as well as European Commission FEDER funds, under grants RTI2018-098156-B-C53 and RTI2018-098309-B-C33. The authors thank Manuel García-Hernández and Salvador Parada-Sarabia for their participation in the collection of data of the study, Khalil Merzouki for the contribution in the software development of the proposed system, and the Federation of Associations of People with Physical and Organic Disability of Murcia (FAMDIF) for the extensive support in carrying out this work

Comparison of Different Classifiers and the Majority Voting Rule for the Detection of Plum Fruits in Garden Conditions

Color segmentation is one of the most thoroughly studied problems in agricultural applications of remote image capture systems, since it is the key step in several different tasks, such as crop harvesting, site specific spraying, and targeted disease control under natural light. This paper studies and compares five methods to segment plum fruit images under ambient conditions at 12 different light intensities, and an ensemble method combining them. In these methods, several color features in different color spaces are first extracted for each pixel, and then the most effective features are selected using a hybrid approach of artificial neural networks and the cultural algorithm (ANN-CA). The features selected among the 38 defined channels were the b* channel of L*a*b*, and the color purity index, C*, from L*C*h. Next, fruit/background segmentation is performed using five classifiers: artificial neural network-imperialist competitive algorithm (ANN-ICA); hybrid artificial neural network-harmony search (ANN-HS); support vector machines (SVM); k nearest neighbors (kNN); and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). In the ensemble method, the final class for each pixel is determined using the majority voting method. The experiments showed that the correct classification rate for the majority voting method excluding LDA was 98.59%, outperforming the results of the constituent methods.This research was funded by the Spanish MICINN, as well as European Commission FEDER funds, under grant RTI2018-098156-B-C53. This project has also been supported by the European Union (EU) under Erasmus+ project entitled "Fostering Internationalization in Agricultural Engineering in Iran and Russia" [FARmER] with grant number 585596-EPP-1-2017-1-DE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

Procesamiento automático de fotografías digitales para la obtención de las necesidades de riego de un cultivo hortícola

[ESP] Por medio de la presente investigación se ha realizado un sistema novedoso que obtiene de forma desatendida y automática la cobertura vegetal de una forma sencilla a partir de una fotografía digital. Esto pérmite calcular las necesidades hídricas del cultivo por medio de una expresión matemática. Se quiere determinar la viabilidad del sistema, estimando el error en el coeficiente de cultivo de una plantación de lechuga (Lactuca sativa L. cv. ‘Hierro’). La aplicación está realizada en PHP con la librería IMagick, lo que facilita su instalación en un servicio Cloud Computing. [ENG] With this researching work a novelty system for obtaining the crop cover with easy, unattended and automated procedures from a digital photography has been developed. Moreover the crop water needs are calculated from this photography combined with a mathematical algorithm. The viability of the systems has to be determined estimating the error in the crop coefficient in a lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. ‘Hierro’) orchard. The application is developed in PHP with the IMagick library. This allows installing in a 'cloud computing' service.Centro Universitario de la Defensa. Escuela de Turismo de Cartagena. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Industrial UPCT. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación (ETSIT). Escuela de Ingeniería de Caminos y Minas (EICM). Escuela de Arquitectura e Ingeniería de Edificación (ARQ&IDE). Parque Tecnológico de Fuente Álamo. Navantia. Campus Mare Nostrum. Estación Experimental Agroalimentaria Tomás Ferr

¿Saben a lo que vienen? Promoción de la Ingeniería Informática en niveles preuniversitarios

Es bien conocido el hecho de que no se logran cubrir todos los empleos relacionados con las titulaciones en Informática. Debido a esta necesidad del mercado, junto a otros factores, los distintos grados en Informática tienen habitualmente una alta demanda, hasta el punto de cubrir los cupos de ingreso marcados por gran parte de las universidades españolas. Sin embargo, en la literatura académica encontramos varios artículos que analizan y tratan de mitigar las elevadas tasas de abandono que sufren estas titulaciones. El enfoque que presentamos en este artículo difiere, dado que las iniciativas de nuestro centro ponen el foco en la actividad de orientación y promoción de la Ingeniería en Informática realizada para los estudiantes preuniversitarios antes de que lleguen a nuestra facultad. Se expondrán en este trabajo distintas líneas de actuación que llevamos a cabo en la Facultad de Informática de la Universidad de Murcia, algunas de ellas con más de una década de experiencia, como la Escuela de Verano para estudiantes de secundaria, las Olimpiadas Informáticas o el proyecto Descubre de iniciación a la programación. Con el fin de contextualizar, también se incluirán datos acerca del perfil de ingreso y las tasas de abandono de los últimos años. Finalmente se reflexionará sobre qué impacto pueden tener estas actividades en el perfil de los nuevos alumnos.It is well known that Computer Science students are in demand, and that demand exceeds the supply. There is a shortage of graduates in IT (Information Technologies). Due to this requirement of the market, together with other considerations, those university degrees related to Computer Science are highly demanded. However, we can find in the literature several works analysing and trying to mitigate the dropout rates that are also related to those degrees. The approach that we introduce in this paper is different since our initiatives are more focused on promotional activities that we have been carrying out during the last decade for students at secondary education levels. We present the different initiatives, like the Summer School, Computer Science Olympics, and the Descubre project. We also include some analytic data about the profile of admitted students and the dropout rate in the last years. Finally, we will discuss the influence of those promotional activities in our new students

Viability of an agro-climatic station with SCADA system and M2M communication

[SPA] Por medio de la presente investigación se ha estudiado la viabilidad de la instalación de una estación agroclimática conectada al servidor SCADA por medio de una tarjeta M2M (Machine to Machine). La estación deberá ser capaz de procesar los datos por segundo, verificando la integridad de los datos y enviar los datos a un hosting externo por medio de protocolo TCP/IP en formato JSON, CSV o XML, La aplicación está realizada en PHP con la librería CURL, lo que facilita su instalación en un servicio Cloud Computing. El sistema SCADA dispondrá de gestión y monitorización de datos, así como tratamiento estadístico de datos como la distribución de Weibull y la posibilidad de importación de datos en formato CSV, para su utilización en EXCEL. [ENG] With this researching we studied the viability of installing an agroclimatic station connected to the SCADA server through a M2M (Machine to Machine) card. The station should be able to process data per second , verifying the integrity and send the data to an external hosting through TCP / IP protocol in JSON , CSV or XML format, the application is made in PHP with the library CURL , which facilitates installation in a Cloud Computing service. The SCADA system will have management and monitoring data and statistical processing of data as the Weibull distribution and the ability to import data in CSV format for use in EXCEL