OpenWeedLocator (OWL): an open-source, low-cost device for fallow weed detection

The use of a fallow phase is an important tool for maximizing crop yield potential in moisture limited agricultural environments, with a focus on removing weeds to optimize fallow efficiency. Repeated whole field herbicide treatments to control low-density weed populations is expensive and wasteful. Site-specific herbicide applications to low-density fallow weed populations is currently facilitated by proprietary, sensor-based spray booms. The use of image analysis for fallow weed detection is an opportunity to develop a system with potential for in-crop weed recognition. Here we present OpenWeedLocator (OWL), an open-source, low-cost and image-based device for fallow weed detection that improves accessibility to this technology for the weed control community. A comprehensive GitHub repository was developed, promoting community engagement with site-specific weed control methods. Validation of OWL as a low-cost tool was achieved using four, existing colour-based algorithms over seven fallow fields in New South Wales, Australia. The four algorithms were similarly effective in detecting weeds with average precision of 79% and recall of 52%. In individual transects up to 92% precision and 74% recall indicate the performance potential of OWL in fallow fields. OWL represents an opportunity to redefine the approach to weed detection by enabling community-driven technology development in agriculture.

Development of a weed detection system using machine learning and neural network algorithms

The detection of weeds at the stages of cultivation is very important for detecting and preventing plant diseases and eliminating significant crop losses, and traditional methods of performing this process require large costs and human resources, in addition to exposing workers to the risk of contamination with harmful chemicals. To solve the above tasks, also in order to save herbicides and pesticides, to obtain environmentally friendly products, a program for detecting agricultural pests using the classical K-Nearest Neighbors, Random Forest and Decision Tree algorithms, as well as YOLOv5 neural network, is proposed. After analyzing the geographical areas of the country, from the images of the collected weeds, a proprietary database with more than 1000 images for each class was formed. A brief review of the researchers' scientific papers describing the methods they developed for identifying, classifying and discriminating weeds based on machine learning algorithms, convolutional neural networks and deep learning algorithms is given. As a result of the research, a weed detection system based on the YOLOv5 architecture was developed and quality estimates of the above algorithms were obtained. According to the results of the assessment, the accuracy of weed detection by the K-Nearest Neighbors, Random Forest and Decision Tree classifiers was 83.3 %, 87.5 %, and 80 %. Due to the fact that the images of weeds of each species differ in resolution and level of illumination, the results of the neural network have corresponding indicators in the intervals of 0.82–0.92 for each class. Quantitative results obtained on real data demonstrate that the proposed approach can provide good results in classifying low-resolution images of weeds.

Deep Learning-Based Object Detection System for Identifying Weeds Using UAS Imagery

Current methods of broadcast herbicide application cause a negative environmental and economic impact. Computer vision methods, specifically those related to object detection, have been reported to aid in site-specific weed management procedures for targeted herbicide application within a field. However, a major challenge to developing a weed detection system is the requirement for a properly annotated database to differentiate between weeds and crops under field conditions. This research involved creating an annotated database of 374 red, green, and blue (RGB) color images organized into monocot and dicot weed classes. The images were acquired from corn and soybean research plots located in north-central Indiana using an unmanned aerial system (UAS) flown at 30 and 10 m heights above ground level (AGL). A total of 25,560 individual weed instances were manually annotated. The annotated database consisted of four different subsets (Training Image Sets 1–4) to train the You Only Look Once version 3 (YOLOv3) deep learning model for five separate experiments. The best results were observed with Training Image Set 4, consisting of images acquired at 10 m AGL. For monocot and dicot weeds, respectively, an average precision (AP) score of 91.48 % and 86.13% was observed at a 25% IoU threshold (AP @ T = 0.25), as well as 63.37% and 45.13% at a 50% IoU threshold (AP @ T = 0.5). This research has demonstrated a need to develop large, annotated weed databases to evaluate deep learning models for weed identification under field conditions. It also affirms the findings of other limited research studies utilizing object detection for weed identification under field conditions.

Weed Detection Model Using the Generative Adversarial Network and Deep Convolutional Neural Network

Agriculture crop demand is increasing day by day because of population. Crop production can be increased by removing weeds in the agriculture field. However, weed detection is a complicated problem in the agriculture field. The main objective of this paper is to improve the accuracy of weed detection by combining generative adversarial networks and convolutional neural networks. We have implemented deep learning models, namely Generative Adversarial Network and Deep Convolutional Neural Network (GAN-DCNN), AlexNet, VGG16, ResNet50, and Google Net perform the detection of the weed. A generative Adversarial Network generates the weed image, and Deep Convolutional Neural Network detects the weed in the image. GAN-DCNN method outperforms than existing weed detection method. Simulation results confirm that the proposed GAN-DCNN has improved performance with a maximum weed detection rate of 87.12 and 96.34 accuracies.

Weed Detection in Rice Fields Using Remote Sensing Technique: A Review

This paper reviewed the weed problems in agriculture and how remote sensing techniques can detect weeds in rice fields. The comparison of weed detection between traditional practices and automated detection using remote sensing platforms is discussed. The ideal stage for controlling weeds in rice fields was highlighted, and the types of weeds usually found in paddy fields were listed. This paper will discuss weed detection using remote sensing techniques, and algorithms commonly used to differentiate them from crops are deliberated. However, weed detection in rice fields using remote sensing platforms is still in its early stages; weed detection in other crops is also discussed. Results show that machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) remote sensing techniques have successfully produced a high accuracy map for detecting weeds in crops using RS platforms. Therefore, this technology positively impacts weed management in many aspects, especially in terms of the economic perspective. The implementation of this technology into agricultural development could be extended further.

The Predictive Power of Regression Models to Determine Grass Weed Infestations in Cereals Based on Drone Imagery—Statistical and Practical Aspects

Site-specific weed management (SSWM) may reduce herbicide use by identifying weed patches and weed-free areas. However, one major constraint is robust weed detection algorithms that are able to predict weed infestations outside of the training data. This study investigates the predictive power of regression models trained on drone imagery that are used within fields to predict infestations of annual grass weeds in the late growth stages of cereals. The main objective was to identify the optimum sampling strategy for training regression models based on aerial RGB images. The study showed that training based on sampling from the whole range of weed infestations or the extreme values in the field provided better prediction accuracy than random sampling. Prediction models based on vegetation indices (VIs) offered a useful alternative to a more complex random forest machine-learning algorithm. For binary decision-making, linear regression utilizing weed density information resulted in higher accuracy than a logistic regression approach that only relied on information regarding the presence/absence of weeds. Across six fields, the average balanced accuracy based on linear regression was in the range of 75–83%, with the highest accuracy found when the sampling was from the extreme values in the field, and with the lowest accuracy found for random sampling. For future work on training weed prediction models, choosing training sets covering the entire sample space is recommended in favor of random sampling.

RNN- and CNN-based weed detection for crop improvement: An overview

Introduction. Deep learning is a modern technique for image processing and data analysis with promising results and great potential. Successfully applied in various fields, it has recently entered the field of agriculture to address such agricultural problems as disease identification, fruit/plant classification, fruit counting, pest identification, and weed detection. The latter was the subject of our work. Weeds are harmful plants that grow in crops, competing for things like sunlight and water and causing crop yield losses. Traditional data processing techniques have several limitations and consume a lot of time. Therefore, we aimed to take inventory of deep learning networks used in agriculture and conduct experiments to reveal the most efficient ones for weed control. Study objects and methods. We used new advanced algorithms based on deep learning to process data in real time with high precision and efficiency. These algorithms were trained on a dataset containing real images of weeds taken from Moroccan fields. Results and discussion. The analysis of deep learning methods and algorithms trained to detect weeds showed that the Convolutional Neural Network is the most widely used in agriculture and the most efficient in weed detection compared to others, such as the Recurrent Neural Network. Conclusion. Since the Convolutional Neural Network demonstrated excellent accuracy in weed detection, we adopted it in building a smart system for detecting weeds and spraying them in place.