Learning Aided System for Agriculture Monitoring Designed Using Image Processing and IoT-CNN

The Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) based methods for monitoring, control, and decision support are combined to design of a smart agriculture assistance system. The proposed system has a sensor pack that provides continuous data capture of temperature records, air and soil moisture and a camera for obtaining near-infrared (NIR) images of the plant leaves for use with an AI decision support system. We identify twelve types of vegetation for the study, out of which five disease classes of the tomato leaves are categorized using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The work also includes experiments conducted with multiple clustering-based segmentation methods and some features namely Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), Local binary pattern (LBP), Local Binary Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (LBGLCM), Gray Level Run Length Matrix (GLRLM), and Segmentation-based Fractal Texture Analysis (SFTA). Out of several AI tools, CNN proves to be effective in providing automated decision support for classifying the plant leaf disease types through a cloud server that can be accessed using an app. Extensive on-field trials show that the system (VGG16 CNN, GLCM and a fuzzy based clustering) is effective in hot and humid conditions and proves to be reliable in identifying disease classes of certain vegetable types, certain usable vegetation cover of farmland and regulation of watering mechanism of crops.

Automated summary

This study combines the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) methods to design a smart agriculture assistance system. The system uses sensors to continuously capture data such as temperature and moisture, and a camera to obtain images of plant leaves for decision support. Through the use of convolutional neural networks (CNN) and clustering analysis, the system can automatically identify diseases in plant leaves and provide support through a cloud server. Field trials have shown that the system is reliable and effective in hot and humid conditions.