Xingxing Zhou

TSSC is one of the most important factors affecting loquat flavor, consumer satisfaction, and market competitiveness. To improve the ability to assess the TSSC of loquats, a method leveraging near-infrared spectroscopy and explainable artificial intelligence was proposed. The 900–1700 nm near-infrared spectroscopy of 156 fresh loquat samples was collected and preprocessed using seven preprocessing techniques, significant wavelength extraction utilizing six feature methods to eliminate data redundancy. Linear and nonlinear models were employed to establish the relationship between the feature spectrum and TSSC, with a focus on comparing and analyzing prediction performance. The findings reveal that the combination of 26 spectral bands selected by SPA and the PLSR model yielded the best prediction outcomes (R = 0.9031, RMSEP = 0.6171, RPD = 2.2803). The contribution of key wavelengths can be obtained by SHAP, which explains differences in model prediction accuracy and provides a reference for the application of loquat TSSC determination.

As an important instrument for olfactory detection in non-destructive testing (NDT), the electronic nose plays an important role in simulating olfactory detection. However, its performance is often affected by drift phenomena, including changes in sensor performance caused by environmental factors and olfactory fatigue due to long-term use. Although the effect of drift on the performance of electronic noses is widely recognized, there is still a relative lack of research on how drift affects feature optimization. This study presents a novel idea that drift factors not only affect the direct readings of the sensor but may also have a profound effect on the feature optimization process and hence the compensation of the electronic nose. To explore this concept, we chose temperature and humidity, the two most common environmental drift factors, for our experimental study. In our study, we verified the impact of drift factors on feature optimization and found a positive correlation between the concentration of sensor scores and the correct classification rate. Moreover, we adopted an innovative quadratic feature optimization method, which aims to reduce the influence of the drift factor on the feature optimization process and thus improve the drift resistance of the electronic nose. In our experiments, we found that the unweighted quadratic feature optimization method performs best in reducing the drift effect. After the optimization process, the recognition rate reaches 100% in the training set and 96% in the test set, which indicates that the electronic nose has improved significantly in terms of drift resistance. In summary, this study explores the effect of drift factors on feature optimization and proposes an effective treatment method, which provides a reference direction for the development and optimization of electronic nose technology.

In this study, we present an electronic nose (e-nose) humidity compensation system based on rapid detection to solve the issue of humidity drift’s potential negative impact on the performance of electronic noses. First, we chose the first ten seconds of non-steady state (rapid detection mode) sensor data as the dataset, rather than waiting for the electronic nose to stabilize during the detection process. This was carried out in the hope of improving the detection efficiency of the e-nose and to demonstrate that the e-nose can collect gasses efficiently in rapid detection mode. The random forest approach is then used to optimize and reduce the dataset’s dimensionality, filtering critical features and improving the electronic nose’s classification capacity. Finally, this study builds an electronic nose humidity compensation system to compensate for the datasets generated via rapid real-time detection, efficiently correcting the deviation of the sensor response caused by humidity variations. This method enhanced the average resolution of the electronic nose in this trial from 87.7% to 99.3%, a 12.4% improvement, demonstrating the efficacy of the humidity compensation system based on rapid detection for the electronic nose. This strategy not only improves the electronic nose’s anti-drift and classification capabilities but also extends its service life, presenting a new solution for the electronic nose in practical detecting applications.

Macronutrients, including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S), are the most basic nutrient elements in the solution for the hydroponic system. However, the current management of hydroponic nutrient solutions usually depends on EC and pH sensors due to the lack of accurate specific macronutrient sensing equipment, which easily leads to nutritional imbalance for the cultivated plant. In this study, the UV-NIR absorption spectroscopy (200–1100 nm) was used to predict six macronutrients in hydroponic solutions; two kinds of single-task learning algorithms, including partial least squares (PLS) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), and two kinds of multi-task learning algorithms, including dirty multi-task learning (DMTL) and robust multi-task learning (RMTL), were investigated to develop prediction models and assess capabilities of UV-NIR. The results showed that N and Ca could be quantitatively predicted by UV-NIR with the ratio of performance to deviation (RPD) more than 2, K could be qualitatively predicted (1.4 < RPD < 2), and P, Mg, and S could not be successfully predicted (RPD < 1.4); the RMTL algorithm outperformed others for predicting K and Ca benefit from the underlying task relationships with N; and predicting P, Mg, and S were identified as irrelevant (outlier) tasks. Our study provides a potential approach for predicting several macronutrients in hydroponic solutions with UV-NIR, especially using RMTL to improve model prediction ability.

Plant height is regarded as a key indicator that is crucial for assessing the crop growth status and predicting yield. In this study, an advanced method based on solid-state LiDAR technology is proposed, which is specifically designed to accurately capture the phenotypic characteristics of plant height during the maize growth cycle. By segmenting the scanned point cloud of maize, detailed point cloud data of a single maize plant were successfully extracted, from which stem information was accurately measured to obtain accurate plant height information. In this study, we will concentrate on the analysis of individual maize plants. Leveraging the advantages of solid-state LiDAR technology in precisely capturing phenotypic information, the data processing approach for individual maize plants, as compared to an entire maize community, will better restore the maize’s original growth patterns. This will enable the acquisition of more accurate maize plant height information and more clearly demonstrate the potential of solid-state LiDAR in capturing detailed phenotypic information. To enhance the universality of the research findings, this study meticulously selected key growth stages of maize for data validation and comparison, encompassing the tasseling, silking, and maturity phases. At these crucial stages, 20 maize plants at the tasseling stage, 40 at the flowering stage, and 40 at the maturity stage were randomly selected, totaling 100 samples for analysis. Each sample not only included actual measurement values but also included plant height information extracted using point cloud technology. The observation period was set from 20 June to 20 September 2021. This period encompasses the three key growth stages of maize described above, and each growth stage included one round of data collection, with three rounds of data collection each, each spaced about a week apart, for a total of nine data collections. To ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data, all collections were performed at noon when the natural wind speed was controlled within the range of 0 to 1.5 m/s and the weather was clear. The findings demonstrate that the root mean square error (RMSE) of the maize plant height data, procured through LiDAR technology, stands at 1.27 cm, the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) hovers around 0.77%, and the peak R² value attained is 0.99. These metrics collectively attest to the method’s ongoing high efficiency and precision in capturing the plant height information. In the comparative study of different stem growth stages, especially at the maturity stage, the MAPE of the plant height was reduced to 0.57%, which is a significant improvement compared to the performance at the nodulation and sprouting stage. These results effectively demonstrate that the maize phenotypic information extraction method based on solid-state LiDAR technology is not only highly accurate and effective but is also effective on individual plants, which provides a reliable reference for applying the technique to a wider range of plant populations and extending it to the whole farmland.

Mechanized harvesting is the key technology to solving the high cost and low efficiency of manual harvesting, and the key to realizing mechanized harvesting lies in the accurate and fast identification and localization of targets. In this paper, a lightweight YOLOv5s model is improved for efficiently identifying grape fruits and stems. On the one hand, it improves the CSP module in YOLOv5s using the Ghost module, reducing model parameters through ghost feature maps and cost-effective linear operations. On the other hand, it replaces traditional convolutions with deep convolutions to further reduce the model’s computational load. The model is trained on datasets under different environments (normal light, low light, strong light, noise) to enhance the model’s generalization and robustness. The model is applied to the recognition of grape fruits and stems, and the experimental results show that the overall accuracy, recall rate, mAP, and F1 score of the model are 96.8%, 97.7%, 98.6%, and 97.2% respectively. The average detection time on a GPU is 4.5 ms, with a frame rate of 221 FPS, and the weight size generated during training is 5.8 MB. Compared to the original YOLOv5s, YOLOv5m, YOLOv5l, and YOLOv5x models under the specific orchard environment of a grape greenhouse, the proposed model improves accuracy by 1%, decreases the recall rate by 0.2%, increases the F1 score by 0.4%, and maintains the same mAP. In terms of weight size, it is reduced by 61.1% compared to the original model, and is only 1.8% and 5.5% of the Faster-RCNN and SSD models, respectively. The FPS is increased by 43.5% compared to the original model, and is 11.05 times and 8.84 times that of the Faster-RCNN and SSD models, respectively. On a CPU, the average detection time is 23.9 ms, with a frame rate of 41.9 FPS, representing a 31% improvement over the original model. The test results demonstrate that the lightweight-improved YOLOv5s model proposed in the study, while maintaining accuracy, significantly reduces the model size, enhances recognition speed, and can provide fast and accurate identification and localization for robotic harvesting.

Industrialized seeding production is one of the most important methods used to raise seedlings in a standardized and efficient manner. However, its consumption of light energy limits its development. In this paper, we studied the effects of LED light intensities (30 (L1), 60 (L2), 90 (L3), 120 (L4), 150 (L5), 180 (L6), and 210 (L7) µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹) on the phenotypic parameters and health index of seedlings during different growth stages (cotyledon flattening (CF), one bud and one leaf (OBOL), and one bud and two leaves (OBTL)). Ten out of sixteen plants were selected to measure the parameters in every treatment. The control group was treated with 150 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹ all the time. The results show that the height of the L1-treated plants was greatest during the cotyledon flattening stage. The L7 treatment produced the largest stem diameter, the greatest biomass, the largest leaf area, and the largest leaf circumference, the values of which were 2.61 mm, 3.3 g, 60.67 cm², and 39.71 cm, respectively. During the one bud and one leaf stage, the L1 treatment produced the tallest plants. The L7 treatment resulted in the largest stem diameter, the greatest biomass, the largest leaf area, and the largest leaf circumference. During the one bud and two leaves stage, the plant height, stem diameter, leaf circumference, and biomass produced of the L6 treatment were the greatest, with values of 68.37 mm, 3.09 mm, 51.54 cm, and 4.47 g. L5 resulted in the largest leaf area (63.91 cm²). The seedling index of the three stages showed an inflection point at the L4 level. The experimental results showed that the light intensity required by the cucumber seedlings was 120 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹, 150 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹, and 120 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹ during the three stages, from the cotyledon flattening stage to the one bud and two leaves stage. The results provide references regarding the light required during the cultivation of cucumber seedlings.

(1) Background: Forklifts are used widely in factories, but it shows the problem of large uncertainties when using an RGB-D sensor to recognize and locate pallets in warehouse environments. To enhance the flexibility of current autonomous forklifts in unstructured environments, the improved labeled template matching algorithm was proposed to recognize pallets. (2) Methods: The algorithm comprises four steps: (i) classifying each pixel of a color image with the color feature and obtaining the category matrix; (ii) building a labeled template containing the goods, pallet, and ground category information; (iii) compressing and matching the category matrix and template to determine the region of the pallet; and (iv) extracting the pallet pose from information in respect of the pallet feet. (3) Results: The results show that the proposed algorithm is robust against environmental influences and obstacles and that it can precisely recognize and segment multiple pallets in a warehouse with a 92.6% detection rate. The time consumptions were 72.44, 85.45, 117.63, and 182.84 ms for detection distances of 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 mm, respectively. (4) Conclusions: Both static and dynamic experiments were conducted, and the results demonstrate that the detection accuracy is directly related to the detection angle and distance.