Spi-VSTL: Image data collection platform using off-the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state-of-the-art glasshouses
Horticulture crop growers are moving from conventional to protected crops, aiming for quality food production utilising fewer resources. Skilled labour for monitoring and maintaining crops in these compact environments has been identified as a major cost and can be reduced using automated image-base...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-03-01
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| Series: | HardwareX |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067225000021 |
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| author | Namal Jayasuriya Malith Weerasekara Oula Ghannoum Yi Guo Wen Hu |
| author_facet | Namal Jayasuriya Malith Weerasekara Oula Ghannoum Yi Guo Wen Hu |
| author_sort | Namal Jayasuriya |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Horticulture crop growers are moving from conventional to protected crops, aiming for quality food production utilising fewer resources. Skilled labour for monitoring and maintaining crops in these compact environments has been identified as a major cost and can be reduced using automated image-based crop monitoring. There is a range of protected cropping infrastructures targeting different types of crops. Image data collection platforms are needed to be tailored according to the infrastructure and nature of the crop. Available research or commercial-purpose image data collection platforms for indoor crops are mostly targeted at movable and small plants compared to vertically supported tall plants. Customising existing commercial systems for this specific type of crop is costly. This paper proposes a low-cost image data collection platform for monitoring vertically supported tall crops in order to reduce labour costs while expanding the monitoring tasks for maintaining better crop growth. Off-the-shelf hardware and electronic components accessible from Australia are used for this development. The proposed platform runs manually on concrete flow and on pipe rail systems found in state-of-the-art commercial glasshouse settings. The proposed motorised platform has been tested with 30 kg, and speed was measured as an average minimum of 0.06 ms−1 and an average maximum of 0.47 ms−1. The usability of the proposed design has been proved with a published data set and research on plant height estimation. Other use cases and room for further development are also discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-eebbeecf8283485dad764b9c379e324d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2468-0672 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | HardwareX |
| spelling | doaj-art-eebbeecf8283485dad764b9c379e324d2025-02-11T04:35:18ZengElsevierHardwareX2468-06722025-03-0121e00624Spi-VSTL: Image data collection platform using off-the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state-of-the-art glasshousesNamal Jayasuriya0Malith Weerasekara1Oula Ghannoum2Yi Guo3Wen Hu4Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Hawkesbury Campus, Western Sydney University, Richmond, NSW 2753, Australia; Corresponding author.Independent Researcher in Automation, NSW, AustraliaHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Hawkesbury Campus, Western Sydney University, Richmond, NSW 2753, AustraliaCentre for Research in Mathematics and Data Science, School of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW 2150, AustraliaSchool of Computer Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, AustraliaHorticulture crop growers are moving from conventional to protected crops, aiming for quality food production utilising fewer resources. Skilled labour for monitoring and maintaining crops in these compact environments has been identified as a major cost and can be reduced using automated image-based crop monitoring. There is a range of protected cropping infrastructures targeting different types of crops. Image data collection platforms are needed to be tailored according to the infrastructure and nature of the crop. Available research or commercial-purpose image data collection platforms for indoor crops are mostly targeted at movable and small plants compared to vertically supported tall plants. Customising existing commercial systems for this specific type of crop is costly. This paper proposes a low-cost image data collection platform for monitoring vertically supported tall crops in order to reduce labour costs while expanding the monitoring tasks for maintaining better crop growth. Off-the-shelf hardware and electronic components accessible from Australia are used for this development. The proposed platform runs manually on concrete flow and on pipe rail systems found in state-of-the-art commercial glasshouse settings. The proposed motorised platform has been tested with 30 kg, and speed was measured as an average minimum of 0.06 ms−1 and an average maximum of 0.47 ms−1. The usability of the proposed design has been proved with a published data set and research on plant height estimation. Other use cases and room for further development are also discussed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067225000021Image data collectionVertically supported cropsGlasshousesOff the shelf hardwareMobile platformLow-cost |
| spellingShingle | Namal Jayasuriya Malith Weerasekara Oula Ghannoum Yi Guo Wen Hu Spi-VSTL: Image data collection platform using off-the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state-of-the-art glasshouses HardwareX Image data collection Vertically supported crops Glasshouses Off the shelf hardware Mobile platform Low-cost |
| title | Spi-VSTL: Image data collection platform using off-the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state-of-the-art glasshouses |
| title_full | Spi-VSTL: Image data collection platform using off-the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state-of-the-art glasshouses |
| title_fullStr | Spi-VSTL: Image data collection platform using off-the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state-of-the-art glasshouses |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spi-VSTL: Image data collection platform using off-the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state-of-the-art glasshouses |
| title_short | Spi-VSTL: Image data collection platform using off-the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state-of-the-art glasshouses |
| title_sort | spi vstl image data collection platform using off the shelf hardware for vertically supported crops in state of the art glasshouses |
| topic | Image data collection Vertically supported crops Glasshouses Off the shelf hardware Mobile platform Low-cost |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067225000021 |
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