SYNOPSIS OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WORK

ON

DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTER VISION WITH IoT

APPLICATION FOR SEED QUALITY ASSESSMENT
Submitted by
Name : Mahaling G Salimath

Seat No. :

Research Centre

Department of Computer Science and Engineering,

K. L. E. Institute of Technology,
Hubballi – 580030

Under the Guidance of

Name : Dr. Rajesh Akkundimath

Designation : Associate Professor

Affiliation : K. L. E. Institute of Technology, Hubballi.

JUNE 2018

Computer Science and Engineering Department

K. L. E. Institute of Technology

Hubballi – 580030
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sl. No. Item Page No.

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

2.0 LITERATURE SURVEY 5

3.0 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WORK 9

4.0 STUDY AREA AND METHODOLOGY 10

5.0 EXPECTED OUTCOME 12

REFERENCES
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Although agriculture contributed only 13.7 percent (at constant 2004-05 prices) of India’s
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2012-13, its importance in the country’s socio-economic
development goes well beyond this indicator as almost half of workforce (48.9%) is employed
in agriculture [1][4]. About 69 percent of the people live in rural areas, a large number of
whom (216.5 million) are poor and mainly depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. About
half of male workers and nearly 75 percent of the female workers in rural areas are engaged in
agriculture [2][3].
The main actors in agricultural production are small holder farmers who practice mostly
subsistence farming. The good seed in a good field produces abundantly. Therefore, it is very
much required that the farmers must use pure, healthy seeds as per the minimum certification
standards which have standard germination percentage. In fact, the seeds are foundation of
farming. Adage is that as per you sow as per you reap. The high good quality seeds are those
which have genetic purity, physical purity, health standards, and germiniability and moisture
percentage in accordance with the minimum seed certification standards. Hence the farmer
can increase approximately 20% production while he uses good high quality of seed [20]. The
farmer does make arrangements for many inputs but the seed is the chief input among other
inputs. If the seed is of bad or low quality/sub standard then the labor and other expenses
which the farmer does are in vain [5]. The Figure 1 shows some of the sample images of seed
varieties.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

(e) (f) (g) (h)

Figure.1: Images of seed variety samples (a) Almonds (b) Brazil nuts (c) Cashews (d) Corn
nuts (e) Pea nuts (f) Pumpkin (g) Sunflower (h) Soy nuts

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Over the years, a large number of high yielding seeds of different varieties have been
developed and disseminated to a large number of farmers in India. These seeds were given to
farmers in small quantities for further multiplication and use but presumably not adequate for
extensive cultivation. Including proper agronomic practices, one of the important pre-requisite
for a successful crop production is the availability of good quality seeds of high yielding
varieties, adapted to the growing area and preferred by the farmers. Quality seed is considered
one of the most vital inputs in crop production. Seed is considered the most important input
in crop production [6]. The additional effects of inputs like fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides
irrigation and crop maintenance can be significantly realized with good quality seed that is
why it is considered as a vital input in crop production [7]. Lack of quality seed is one of the
main challenges faced by farmers in crop production in India.
The seed multiplication unit and other institutions within the seed industry were rehabilitated
and operationalized to provide farmers with seeds at affordable prices to facilitate a steady
increase in food crop production to attain self-sufficiency. In spite of these endeavors,
smallholder farmers in India are still facing challenges in the assessment of quality seeds.
Hence the need for an in-depth study to investigate the quality of the seed and crop produced
and to assess the challenges of small holder farmers in the crop sector in India. In many cases,
farmers are forced to use high amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, provide large amounts of
water (irrigation) and abide to all the other farming requirements that companies mandate to
get proper yields. The Figure 2 shows sample images of seeds based on quality.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Figure 2: Images of seed samples based on quality (a) Normal (b) Diseased (c) Mixed
(d) Aged
A proper regulation and legislation to hold seed companies accountable for false claims is the
need of the hour as companies use legal loop holes to push the blame on to the farmers in the
case of failed crops. Distribution of assured quality seed is as critical as the production of

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such seeds. Unfortunately, good quality seeds are out of reach of the majority of farmers,
especially small and marginal farmers mainly because of exorbitant prices of better seeds.

Figure 3 Shows manual seed sorting to pick good seeds.

The following are symptoms of poor quality seeds:

1. Low germination, mixed varieties, low plant vigor, diseased plants, or the introduction
of weeds
2. Seed source may be discolored
3. Seeds may be of different sizes and varieties
4. Seed source may contain inert, weeds or other matter
Commercially sold seeds must be subjected to several quality measurements. Seed quality
results from genetic, physical, physiological and phyto-sanitary characteristics [18]. Because
of features variety and the difficulties related to their estimation, technologies in this area have
not practically changed for many years. The expert with his knowledge and his abilities to
interpret is a key figure in the process. This defines the nature of the assessment subjective,
slow and inaccurate. The tests above are normally performed manually. So there is a need of
objective system which will provide consistent results. Although some biological inspection
methods in laboratory need advanced techniques and equipment, which is difficult to fulfill
the real-time operation, seed quality based on inspection of physical attributes such as color,
shape and size can be evaluated by a trained staff. These tests are generally costly, time
consuming and the results of tests may vary from laboratory to laboratory and it highly relies
on human skills and experience. The computer vision system with IoT (Internet of Things)
will be able to perform the tests fast, consistent and it will also reduce the human interference.

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There has been much research and various attempts to apply new IoT technology to
agricultural areas. However, IoT for the agriculture should be considered differently against
the same areas such as industrial, logistics. The IoT-based agricultural helps in production
systems for stabilizing supply and demand of agricultural products. IoT focuses on using the
environment sensors and prediction system for the growth and production amount of crops by
gathering its environmental information. Currently, the demand by consumption of
agricultural products could be predicted quantitatively, however, the variation of harvest and
production by the change of farm's cultivated area, weather change, disease and insect damage
etc. could not be predicted, so that the supply and demand of agricultural products has not
been controlled properly. To overcome it, the IoT-based monitoring system to analyze crop
environment, and the method to improve the efficiency of decision making by analyzing
harvest statistics is necessary. The IoT-based agricultural production system provides
correlation analysis between the crop statistical information and agricultural environment
information. This analysis has enhanced the ability of farmers, researchers, and government
officials to analyze current conditions and predict future harvest. Additionally, agricultural
products quality can be improved because farmers observe whole cycle from seeding to
selling using this IoT-based decision support system. [21].

2.0 LITERATURE SURVEY

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Many researchers have worked on different computer vision methods for seeds quality
analysis and for their classification. Researchers have been accepted that computer vision
methods work well in seed quality analysis and their classification.

Kantip Kiratiratanapruk and WasinSinthupinyo [12] 2011 have discussed Machine vision that
has been applied to various food materials inspection process of agricultural industry in order
to achieve fast and accurate operation. They proposed a method to classify more than ten
categories of seed defects by using color, texture features and support vector machine (SVM)
type classifier. Even they developed an image capturing machine that is able to support large
volume of seed samples. The image capturing machine was designed to control uncertainty
light level, reflection and shadow appeared on seed samples. Therefore, quality of images that
can be obtained from them a chine in term of accurate color and exposure is high. In addition,
the designed image capturing machine also provides support to background subtraction and
touching object segmentation processes. In the image classification part, color histograms in
RGB and HSV color space together with texture based on Grey level co-occurrence matrix
(GLCM) and Local binary pattern (LBP) is adopted as features. The proposed systems were
evaluated from more than 10,000 sample images. The obtained accuracies are 95.6% for
normal seed type and 80.6% for group of defect seed types. The preliminary results of study
are useful information for future development of the quality control technique in practical
usage.
H.SalomeHema Chitra and Dr.S.Suguna [17] 2017 have proposed a novel image processing
technique that includes two phases depicts an optimized selection of feature extraction and
classification algorithm that enhances the quality, exactness of the seed variety and realization
of the most excellent classification production percentage of 98.9%. In the identification and
classification phase, image representation of the pulse seed varieties is pre-processed to
enhance the seed image with S-component Conversion and the escalated seed image is
processed to detect the outer boundary of the seed and also the inner region of the pulse seed
image is extracted for the more accurate and closed boundaries to detect and fill the inner
holes of the pulse seed image. This proposed algorithm employed with extraction of 256
features by evaluating the shape, color, texture and seed specialized features. And to attain
significant features selection by weighting and ranking techniques for the particular varietal
classification. In the second phase, the quality determination of the pulse seed is established to
find good viability condition of seed using thermal imaging techniques.

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Xin Yi et al [15] 2014 have presented use of digital image analysis for the identification of
seeds has not been recognized as a validated method. Image analysis for seed identification
has been previously studied, and good recognition rates have been achieved. However, the
data sets used in these experiments either contain very few groups of non-verified specimens
or little representation of intra-species variations. They considered a data set containing seed
specimens that were verified to represent the species and a typical population variation, as
well as lookalike species that share the same morphological appearance, in particular, seeds
from species in the same genus, which can be particularly difficult for even trained
professionals to visually distinguish. With representative specimens, the image features and
machine learning algorithms described herein can achieve a high recognition rate: >97%.
Three different types of features from seed images: colour, shape, and texture were extracted,
and a multi-kernel support vector machine was used as the classifier. Compared new features
to the previous state-of the-art features and the results showed that the features they selected
performed better on our data set.
Ece Olcay Gunes et al [14] 2014 have proposed a method to identify the wheat varieties
grown in Turkey by using image analysis techniques, with the motivation of developing a
fully automatic grain type and variety identification system. The proposed method is based on
texture analysis (Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and Linear Binary Pattern (LBP)
methods) and k-Nearest Neighbor type classifier.
Si ChenLing Li-na [11] 2012 have presented on well proved algorithm for Grade
classification of seed cotton which is a major problem that has an significant impact on the
agricultural economy. According to characteristics like impurities, yellowness and brightness
that extract from images of seed cotton, constructing classification model of seed cotton base
on the least square method. Using support vector machine regression to come up with a well
improved algorithm. After full learning, seed cotton classification accuracy satisfies the actual
application needs.
Meonghun Lee [21] 2013 have proposed the IoT-based monitoring system to analyze crop
environment, and the method to improve the efficiency of decision making by analyzing
harvest statistics. Therefore, they developed the decision support system to forecast
agricultural production using IoT sensors. This system was also a unified system that supports
the processes sowing seeds through selling agricultural products to consumers. The IoT-based
agricultural production system through correlation analysis between the crop statistical
information and agricultural environment information has enhanced the ability of farmers,

6
researchers, and government officials to analyze current conditions and predict future harvest.
Additionally, agricultural products quality can be improved because farmers observe whole
cycle from seeding to selling using this IoT-based decision support system.
Ai-Guo OuYang [9] 2010 have proposed an automatic method for identifying different variety
of rice seeds using machine vision technology was investigated, and a detection system which
was consisted of an automatic inspection machine and an image–processing unit, was also
developed. The system could continually present matrix–positioned rice seed to CCD
cameras, and singularize each rice seed image from the background. The inspection machine
comprised scattering and positioning devices, a photographing station, a parallel discharging
device, and a continuous conveyer belt with carrying holes for the rice seed. The rice seeds’
image was achieved continuously by single chip controlled device. The line was suspended
per second by the device, and the images of seeds were collected by the camera during the
intervals. Image analysis was carried. Color features in RGB (red, green, blue) and color
spaces were computed. A back forward neural network was trained to identify rice seeds.
Almost all 86.65% rice seeds were correctly identified. The correct classification rates for five
rice varieties were: No.5‘Xiannong’ of 99.99%, ‘Jinyougui’ of 99.93%,‘You166’ of 98.89%,
No. 3 ‘Xiannong’ of 82.82% and ‘Medium you’ 463 of 86.65%, respectively. Based on the
results, it was concluded that the system was enough to use for inspection of varieties of
different rice seeds based on their appearance characters of seeds.
L.A.I.Pabamalie and H.L.Premaratne [19] 2010 have focused on providing a better approach
for identification of rice quality by using neural network and image processing concepts. In
this, a back propagation neural network with two hidden layers has been developed for the
quality classification. Thirty-one texture and color features that have been extracted from rice
images were used for discriminate analysis. Tests on the system for the training and test sets
show accuracy in between 94% to 68% for the four grades.
R. V. Ronge,M.M and Sardeshmukh [13] 2014 have used 2-layer ANN (artificial neural
network) a linear classifier and k-NN (k-nearest neighbor) a nonlinear classifier applied for
identification and classification of images of four Indian wheat seed species into four classes
of wheat seeds on the basis of their varieties. 120 images (40 images of four classes, 10
images of each class) from three different places were taken under same illumination
condition. These images were cropped to 320x240 resolutions and converted into gray scale
images. They had extracted 131 texture features of wheat species using various textural
algorithms which contain LBP(local binary pattern),LSP (local similarity pattern),LSN(local

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similarity numbers),GLCM(gray level co-occurrence matrix),GLRM(gray level run length
matrix)matrices of gray image. The feature group which gave highest percentage of accuracy
in classification was determined. The determined feature group showed maximum average
accuracy of 100% for inter-class classification and 66.68% for intra class classification when
it was classified linearly i.e. using ANN. On the other hand, it gave 85% of average accuracy
for inter-class classification and 39% for intra class classification with non-linear
classification method, using k-nearest neighbor (k-NN). Thus, results show the linear
classifiers are out performed to non-linear one as features are linear in nature.
Anwar Abdalbari and Jing Ren [8] 2015 have defined a novel method for automatic
classification of the seed points in liver Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) belonging to the
same patient each time the segmentation is performed. Furthermore, it is used in many
medical applications and techniques such as registration. Currently, an accurate segmentation
is still a challenging task. The segmentation process starts by selecting seed points within the
region of interest. A manual seed point selection can be time consuming and requires an
expert to complete the selection. The proposed method uses Geometric Moment Invariants as
a feature vector to identify the locations of seed points. Artificial Neural Network (ANN)
model is trained using the feature vector of each of the seed points to classify which region of
the liver a testing point belongs. They have demonstrated the effectiveness of their technique
in classifying three seed points. These seed points represent the left hepatic vein, central
hepatic vein, and right hepatic vein of the liver. The proposed method shows high accuracy in
classifying the input seed points.

Computer systems has the potential to become a vital component of automated processing
operations in agricultural applications as increased computer capabilities and greater
processing speed of algorithms are continually developing to meet the necessary online
speeds. The flexibility and non-destructive nature of IoT and digital image processing
techniques help to maintain its attractiveness for application in the food industry.

3. 0 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WORK

The project aims at developing a computer vision system with IoT to assess the variety and
quality of seed. The automated, objective, rapid and hygienic inspection of quality seeds can
be achieved by the use of computer vision and IoT techniques.
3.1 Problem Statement
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The main objective of the study is to assess the variety and quality of seed crop and the
challenges faced by small holder crop farmers. The specific objectives of the study are:
1. To design and develop a methodology to recognize seed varieties using color and
thermal sensors.
2. To develop a methodology to recognize mixed, aged and dead seed using color and
thermal sensors.
3. To design and develop a methodology to recognize and classify seed varieties using
digital image processing techniques.
4. To take a better decision for proper classification and to recognize mixed, aged and
dead seeds.

4.0 STUDY AREA AND METHODOLOGY

The project work involves seeds used by small holder farmers. The identification of seed
variety and quality assessment using computer vision combined with IoT includes several
phases. The first phase is the data acquisition phase using color and thermal sensors. The
images of the various seeds of agriculture /horticulture crops that are to be classified based on
the variety and quality are taken using a digital and thermal camera. Normally, the images that
are acquired from the first phase are not suited for recognition purpose because of several
constituents such as noise, lighting conditions, and so on. So, these images are preprocessed to
remove unwanted features in the images. The computation of features based on specific
properties among pixels in the image is completed in the next step. After this step, the feature
selection is performed by choosing the best features based on certain statistical analysis tasks,
in order to ease the conception of the classification system. Finally, various classifiers are
employed to complete the classification procedure.
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Common stages of proposed system for proper classification and to recognize mixed, aged
and dead seeds using thermal sensors, color sensors and digital imaging process technique as
shown in the below figure

Data acquisition Image Preprocessing of

acquisition Images

Decisions, customized Feature Selection Segmentation

reports and Classification

Fig 4 Flow chart of the proposed work

The proposed work is useful in the real world and comprises of the tasks like data acquisition,
image acquisition, preprocessing of images, segmentation, feature selection, development of
methodologies for identification of seed quality, finally development and classification of
architecture for the computer system (CS). The Figure 4 shows the schematic flow chart of the
proposed work.
1. Data acquisition: The presence of impurity, disease infection on seed surface causes
changes in pigment, nutrient and heat. These changes result in differences in color and
temperature which can be detectable by color and thermal sensors.
2. Image acquisition: It is necessary to acquire images of seeds of different
agriculture/horticulture crops. It involves visit to seed companies with a digital and
thermal camera of adequate resolution and capture the images of seeds based on their
variety &quality and decide also on the number of images.
3. Preprocessing of images: Usually the images that are obtained from digital and
thermal cameras are not suited for identification and classification purposes because of
various factors, such as noise, lighting variations, climatic condition, poor resolution
of an image, unwanted background. Hence, preprocessing techniques are applied to
improve quality for further processing.
4. Segmentation: In order to separate foreground and background in the image samples
different segmentation techniques are applied.
5. Feature selection: Then image-processing techniques are applied to extract useful
features that are necessary for further analysis of these images. The purpose of the
feature extraction method is used to reduce the image data by measuring certain

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 features or properties such as color and texture. Feature extraction is done based on
specific properties among pixels in the image or their texture.
6. Classification: Image classification is the final step in any pattern recognition problem
several analytical discriminant techniques will be used to classify the images
according to the specific problem at hand.
The database is created to store the outputs of a feature extraction, since there are no standard
databases to test the methodologies to be developed. The database is used to keep track of
seeds based on their variety and quality that have been processed.

The purpose of this proposed work is to incorporate or introduce computer vision application
along with IoT in seed quality assessment to solve problems and develop methods that can
better respond to current and future agricultural needs. The ultimate goal in this area is to
simplify procedures, increase efficiency, and assure quality of seeds. Automatic detection of
seed quality using computer vision with IoT can help seed producers, farmers, and
homeowners understand the important role that seed plays in producing superior crops,
landscape plants, and lawns.

5.0 EXPECTED OUTCOMES

1. Computer Vision Method will be developed to recognize seed varieties using color and
thermal sensors.
2. Methodology will be developed to recognize and classify mixed, aged, dead seeds
using thermal digital image processing techniques.
3. The automated, objective, rapid and hygienic inspection of quality seeds can be
achieved by the use digital image processing and IoT techniques.
4. The system offers the potential to automate manual grading practices thus
standardizing techniques and eliminating tedious human inspection tasks in
classification and recognizing seed varieties.

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REFERENCES
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[8]. Anwar Abdalbari, Jing Ren, “Accurate Seed Points Classification Using Invariant
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[9]. Ai-Guo OuYang, Rong-jie Gao, Yan-de Liu, Xu-dong Sun, Yuan-yuan Pan, Xiao-ling
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[14]. Ece Olcay Güneş, Sercan Aygün, Mürvet Kırcı, Amir Kalateh, Yüksel Çakır,
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