Detection of plant and greenhouse features using sonar sensors

Abstract

The spectrum of an ultrasonic return echo from plants has been shown to contain unique information about single plants. This research focused on finding ultrasonic classification features that could ultimately be used as the basis for a pepper yield estimation robot. An ultrasonic sensor system was tested in a pepper greenhouse environment and against single pepper plants. The results prove the potential of ultrasonic sensors for such a robot in classifying plants against walls, the ability to detect the existence of fruit and the detection of plant rows without the need for line of sight.