Cotton seedling detection based on super-resolution reconstruction from UAV remote sensing imagery

Abstract

Accurate and efficient acquisition of seedling density and growth information is of great significance for guiding modern agricultural field management. Although drone imagery has been widely used in seedling monitoring, the inherent trade-off between operational efficiency and image resolution limits the effectiveness of remote sensing-based seedling detection. To address this challenge, this study proposes an integrated analytical method combining super-resolution reconstruction and object detection. The approach first employs the Real-ESRGAN model to enhance low-resolution image quality, then utilizes the YOLOv12 model to accurately localize cotton seedlings, and finally generates visualizations of seedling density and growth uniformity. Experimental results demonstrate that super-resolution reconstruction enhances the detection algorithm's capability for small targets, increasing the object detection precision by 3.3%. With the incorporation of super-resolution reconstruction, the seedling counting accuracy reaches 92.08%, representing a 46.15% improvement over the method without super-resolution, thereby effectively enhancing the algorithm's counting capability. Furthermore, this method achieves image detail equivalent to that obtained at 7.5 meters flight altitude while operating at 30 meters, reducing data acquisition time to 1/16 of the original requirement. In practical applications, the visualized results of seedling density and growth uniformity provide precise decision-making support for thinning, replanting, and differentiated field management. The proposed method is not only applicable to cotton but can also be extended to staple crops such as corn, wheat, and rice, with additional potential applications in forestry and ecological monitoring.

Plant phenotyping relevance

UAV画像の超解像化と物体検出により、ワタ苗の密度・生育均一性を定量化する手法が研究の中心であり、性能評価も行っているため。

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