Artificial Neural Network Development for Tree Crown Recognition

Usually, pesticides have been applied homogeneously no matter whether there were some spaces between sprayed target trees or individual differences of tree crowns were considered. The paper analyzed briefly the relationship between the precision pesticide applications and the tree crown types. The authors thought that the amount of spraying pesticides depended greatly on the tree crown types and a tree crown recognition system based on BP artificial neural networks was put forward and developed. The fractional dimensions and tree crown dimensions of the tree were employed to describe its crown in the net. The tree crown recognition system could recognize the tree types accurately so that pesticides would be applied in the target tree in a variable application rate, which improved the efficiency of spraying and reduced the non- or off-target pesticide pollution. The experiments in the real time showed that the developed tree crown recognition system was practical and recognized the type of tree crown precisely and effectively.