Xin Pan - Computer Vision based Identification and Mosaic of Gramineous Grass Seeds

Jointly co-published with China Agricultural Science and Technology Press, Beijing, China

The print edition is not for sale in China (Mainland). Customers from China (Mainland) please order the print book from: China Agricultural Science and Technology Press

Jointly co-published with China Agricultural Science and Technology Press, Beijing, China. The print edition is not for sale in China (Mainland). Customers from China (Mainland) please order the print book from: China Agricultural Science and Technology Press

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Grassland is the refreshable natural resource for human beings, and the dynamic monitor and digitalized government of grassland are vital for the sustainable strategy. At present, the research on the grassland digitalization is rare. Hence, it is of great importance in theory and reality to realize grass recognition by computer vision, which will make contribution to improve the accuracy of grass auto recognition, and data acquisition.

Computer vision is a multi-disciplinary technology that takes advantage of computer and image acquisition system to imitate the human vision in converting image into digital signal. Different from the remote sensing technology-based digital system of the grassland, computer vision emphasizes on digital images of grassland and forage captured by digital cameras. Hence, the book focused on intrinsic feature extraction, so as to realize auto recognition of forage, and microscope images mosaic. The computer vision-based digital platform of grassland and forage was developed by integrating the images mosaic and some related function modules.

The book is an initial effort in the research of grassland digitization based on computer vision, especially focuses on the identification and mosaic of gramineous grass seeds. It is a general research report of our research team in Inner Mongolia Agricultural University and Grassland Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, which aggregates our collective intelligence and efforts in the research. The book was written by Pan Xin, Gao Xiaojing, Liu Jiangping, Wuyuntana, Ma Yubao, and Yan Weihong. Among them, Yan Weihong and Ma Yubao are from Grassland Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the other team members are from Inner Mongolia Agricultural University. The final compilation and editing of the whole book was completed by Pan Xin.

This work is dedicated to Researcher Zhu Xu and Dr. Feng Hao for their great contributions. We are also inspired by their deep love of the grassland, which has become the eternal part of their lives. We owe gratitudes to Researcher Liu Guixiang, the Doctoral supervisor in Grassland Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Thanks to the help and advices from Professor Ma Shuoshi, Professor Xue Heru, Professor Ding Xuehua, Professor Han Guodong, Professor Wei Zhijun, Professor Liu Zhongling, Professor Luo Xiaoling, and Associate Professor Jiang Xinhua. Millions of the researchers and herders work and live in the magnificent grassland, protecting our beautiful home. We are very proud to make all our efforts to be one of them and does something minor to their great career. In addition, we are also grateful at the contributions of all graduates, Chen Tong, Ning Lina, Zhao Xuanhe, Duan Junjie, Zhang Jianhua, Zhai Lin, Han Fan, Zhao Dandan, Cen Yao, Xiang Yang, Wu Lin, Peng Jingjing, Wang Xinyu, Qiao Xue, Guo Yubo, and Dai Xuemin.

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 61562067 and No. 61962048, Central Public-Interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (No 1610332020020) the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China No. 20100480370 and No. 201104179, the Regional Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia under Grant No. 2012MS919 and No. 2012MS915, the Basic Scientific Research Foundation for Central Public Research Institutes No. 1610332015007, and the Foundations of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University NDPYTD 210-9, BJ09-43, and JCYJ201201.

The research on the grassland digitization based on computer vision is still at the very beginning stage, where there is a long way to explore in future. More researchers are required to get involved in the work. Limited by the professional knowledge in multi-discipline and scientific vision scope, mistakes are inevitable in the book, and we are grateful to the comments and corrections from the readers.