Determination of in-row seed distribution uniformity using image processing

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the seed distribution uniformity of seeding machines using a low sensitivity (maximum 300 frames per second (fps)) high-speed camera and image processing method for corn, cotton, and wheat seeds under laboratory conditions. For this purpose, a high-speed camera with 100, 200, and 300 fps was used to measure the seed drop from the seeding tube onto the sticky belt. Video images then were transferred to the image processing algorithm, from which seed distribution can be calculated. The calculated measurements were compared statistically with the measurements obtained from sticky belt tests. According to the results for determining corn and cotton seed spacing by high-speed camera, the camera was successful only for corn seeds. For cotton seeds, camera readings were significantly different from the readings from the sticky belt due to the fact that capturing the cotton seed trajectory was not sufficient compared to the corn seed trajectory. Measuring the wheat seed spacing by high-speed camera was impossible with lower speeds of the camera. Wheat kernels could not be captured successfully by the camera at speeds of 100 and 200 fps. Therefore, only 300 fps speed was used to measure the seed spacing of wheat.

Predicting the seeding quality of radish seeds with the use of a family of Nakagami distribution functions

“…-to improve the accuracy of seed distribution within rows (Solie et al, 1991;Błaszczak and Przybył, 2000;Firsov and Cherepakhin, 2002;Lipiński et al, 2004;Banasiak and Michalak, 2000); -to improve the working units and subassemblies in seed drills, these play a key role in seeding quality (Bozdogan, 2006); -and finally, to develop new methods for evaluating seeding quality with the application of contact and contactless sensors which are used to measure the distances between seeds (Kachman and Smith, 1995;Kęska and Kośmicki, 1986;Łazarczyk et al, 1996;Feder et al, 2012;Bracy and Parish, 1998;Lan et al,1999;Özmerzi et al, 2002;Karayel et al, 2006;Çakir et al, 2016;Markowski, 2017).…”

The Application of Optoelectronic Elements to Control the Sowing Process

“…In this case, grain flow sensors installed on seed tubes, may be particularly helpful. In mechanical and pneumatic seed drills, which are commonly used, it is usually impossible to control the sowing process in individual seed tubes, although researchers are working on the development of new methods [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. There have been scientific, patent and specialist publications giving examples of solutions based on optical sensors [8].…”