Delineation of Crop Field Areas and Boundaries from UAS Imagery Using PBIA and GEOBIA with Random Forest Classification

ABSTRACTConservation of the Sumatran orangutans’ (Pongo abelii) habitat is threatened by change in land use/land cover (LULCC), due to the logging of its native primary forest habitat, and the primary forest conversion to oil palm, rubber tree, and coffee plantations. Frequent LULCC monitoring is vital to rapid conservation interventions. Due to the costs of high-resolution satellite imagery, researchers are forced to rely on cost-free sources (e.g. Landsat), those, however, provide images at a moderate-to-low resolution (e.g. 15–250 m), permitting identification only general LULC classes, and limit the detection of small-scale deforestation or degradation. Here, we combine Landsat imagery with very high-resolution imagery obtained from an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). ​The UAS imagery was used as ‘drone truthing’ data to train image classification algorithms. Our results show that UAS data can successfully be used to help discriminate similar land-cover/use classes (oil palm plantation vs. reforestation vs. logged forest) with consistently high identification of over 75% on the generated thematic map, where the oil palm detection rate was as high as 89%. Because UAS is employed increasingly in conservation proWjects, this approach can be used in a large variety of them to improve land-cover classification or aid-specific mapping needs.

Yield prediction and variety selection are critical components for assessing production and performance in breeding programs and precision agriculture. Since plants integrate their genetics, surrounding environments, and management conditions, crop phenotypes have been measured over cropping seasons to represent the traits of varieties. These days, UAS (unmanned aircraft system) provides a new opportunity to collect high‐quality images and generate reliable phenotypic data efficiently. Here, we propose high‐throughput phenotyping (HTP) from multitemporal UAS images for tomato yield estimation. UAS‐based RGB and multispectral images were collected weekly and biweekly, respectively. The shape of the features of tomatoes such as canopy cover, canopy, volume, and vegetation indices derived from UAS imagery was estimated throughout the entire season. To extract time‐series features from UAS‐based phenotypic data, crop growth and growth rate curves were fitted using mathematical curves and first derivative equations. Time‐series features such as the maximum growth rate, day at a specific event, and duration were extracted from the fitted curves of different phenotypes. The linear regression model produced high R2 values even with different variable selection methods: all variables (0.79), forward selection (0.7), and backward selection (0.77). With factor analysis, we figured out two significant factors, growth speed and timing, related to high‐yield varieties. Then, five time‐series phenotypes were selected for yield prediction models explaining 65 percent of the variance in the actual harvest. The phenotypic features derived from RGB images played more important roles in prediction yield. This research also demonstrates that it is possible to select lower‐performing tomato varieties successfully. The results from this work may be useful in breeding programs and research farms for selecting high‐yielding and disease‐/pest‐resistant varieties.

Considering the form diversity of tree species composition in the Bagong Mountain National Forest Park of China, we mapped tree species utilizing Machine Learning Algorithms (support vector machines (SVM) and random forest (RF) classifiers) based on the OHS-2 hyperspectral satellite image by different datasets which combined spectral information and hyperspectral-derived vegetation indices (VIs) for improving tree species classification and explored the best performance of them. To verify the improvement, the results of physically-based spectral classifiers (spectral angle mapper (SAM) and maximum likelihood (ML) classifiers) were applied to compare with the results of machine learning algorithms. The results indicated an overall accuracy of 94.01%, 96.08%, 82.9% and 79.3% for SVM, RF, SAM and ML classifiers of the best performance using different datasets. Highest accuracies resulted from two machine learning algorithms classifiers; SVM and RF compared to SAM and ML classifiers. Although SVM outperformed RF when using all hyperspectral bands and VIs, the overall accuracy of the RF classifier is higher when compared to the SVM classifier using VIs combined selected features. Meanwhile, the RF classifier performed better than SVM after removing the redundancy of spectral data in training samples. Moreover, the machine learning algorithms successfully classified a small number of tree species (Cedrus deodara and Pterocarya stenoptera C. DC.) in the study area, but the physical spectroscopy-based method failed to classify these species. Such integration strategy improved the effectiveness of enhancing the accuracy of tree species classification and mapping their distribution on broad spatial and temporal scales using machine learning algorithms and hyperspectral imagery.

Abstract. Random Forest is a supervised learning algorithm developed from decision trees with the application of boostrap aggregating (bagging). This method grows trees from decision trees to produce a forest or the best model called the random forest model. Tree growth is done with randomly selected data with returns through the bagging process. Random forest is considered to provide better performance results for diabetes data among other supervised learning methods, because random forest and has the lowest error rate compared to other methods. Random forest is also an important technique for medical data classification, especially for diagnosing diabetics. In this study, classification was carried out using Pima Indian Diabetes data, which is an American tribe that lives in Arizona and Mexico. Classification analysis was carried out using an algorithm to see the level of accuracy in random forest classification on Pima Indian diabetes data. The results show that the accuracy value of random forest classification is 74.78%, this value is in the accuracy category at the fair classification level. In this random forest classification, there are three main variables that become importance variables, namely glucose then BMI, and age.
 Abstract. Random Forest is a supervised learning algorithm developed from decision trees with the application of boostrap aggregating (bagging). This method grows trees from decision trees to produce a forest or the best model called the random forest model. Tree growth is done with randomly selected data with returns through the bagging process. Random forest is considered to provide better performance results for diabetes data among other supervised learning methods, because random forest and has the lowest error rate compared to other methods. Random forest is also an important technique for medical data classification, especially for diagnosing diabetics. In this study, classification was carried out using Pima Indian Diabetes data, which is an American tribe that lives in Arizona and Mexico. Classification analysis was carried out using an algorithm to see the level of accuracy in random forest classification on Pima Indian diabetes data. The results show that the accuracy value of random forest classification is 74.78%, this value is in the accuracy category at the fair classification level. In this random forest classification, there are three main variables that become importance variables, namely glucose then BMI, and age.

Recent advances in diverse remote sensing sensors have enabled the acquisition of high-spatial-resolution imagery, offering unprecedented opportunities for cost-efficient and accurate agricultural inventory and analysis in an automated manner. Lots of studies that aim at providing an inventory of the level of each agricultural parcel have generated many methods for agricultural parcel and boundary delineation (APBD). This review article covers APBD methods for detecting and delineating agricultural parcels and systematically reviews the past and present of APBD-related research applied to remote sensing images. We conceptualize existing APBD studies as comprising three hierarchical levels: cropland identification (CI), boundary delineation (BD), and parcel segmentation (PS). With the goal to provide a clear knowledge map of existing APBD efforts, we conduct a comprehensive review of recent APBD papers to build a metadata analysis, including the algorithm, the study site, the crop type, the sensor type, the evaluation method, and so on. We categorize the methods into three classes: 1) traditional image processing methods (including pixel based, edge based, and region based), 2) traditional machine learning methods [such as random forests (RFs) and decision trees (DTs)], and 3) deep learning-based methods. With deep learning-oriented approaches contributing to a majority, we further discuss deep learning-based APBD methods, organizing them primarily by task into semantic segmentation-based and object detection-based approaches and, within each, distinguishing architectures based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and transformers. In addition, we discuss several APBD-related issues to further comprehend the APBD domain using remote sensing data, such as multisensor data in APBD tasks, comparisons between single-task learning and multitask learning in the APBD domain, comparisons among different algorithms and different APBD tasks, and so on. Finally, this article proposes some APBD-related applications and a few exciting prospects and potential hot topics in future APBD research. We hope this review helps researchers involved in the APBD domain to keep track of developments and trends.

Abstract. Coastal erosion is a great threat to the coastal ecosystem and is often quantified by retreating shoreline and the loss of sand from the coastal zone. To quantify the volumetric loss of sand, the ground and non-ground features should be separated, and erosion could be quantified using the extracted ground features. While there are several algorithms available for ground and non-ground classification, most tend to remove valid ground points that are crucial in accurate volumetric loss and gain estimates. This study proposes raster-based approach to extract topography of the ground with better reliability of rugged terrains where the surface is often over smoothened. In this approach 3D point cloud obtained from the UAS-SfM (Unmanned Aircraft System – Structure from Motion) technique is converted to raster with five bands including red, green, blue, elevation and slope with elevation and slope derived from the surface model. This approach uses a Random Forest Classifier (RFC), which utilizes all five bands to train the model. The classified ground points are transformed into a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) using the Inverse Distance Weight (IDW) interpolation technique. The DTM generated is cross validated with the orthomosaic and Digital Surface Model (DSM). The results shown that the DTM generated using this machine learning approach produced reliable result with RMSE 0.059m.

Even today, the assessment of avalanche danger is by large a subjective, yet data-based decision-making process. Human experts analyze heterogeneous data volumes, diverse in scale, and conclude on the avalanche scenario based on their experience. Nowadays, modern machine learning methods and the rise in computing power in combination with physical snow cover modelling open up new possibilities for developing decision support tools for operational avalanche forecasting. Therefore, we developed a fully data-driven approach to predict the regional avalanche danger level, the key component in public avalanche forecasts, for dry-snow conditions in the Swiss Alps. Using a large data set of more than 20 years of meteorological data measured by a network of automated weather stations, which are located at the elevation of potential avalanche starting zones, and snow cover simulations driven with these input weather data, we trained two random forest (RF) classifiers. The first classifier (RF #1) was trained relying on the forecast danger levels published in the avalanche bulletin. Given the uncertainty related to a forecast danger level as a target variable, we trained a second classifier (RF #2), relying on a quality-controlled subset of danger level labels. We optimized the RF classifiers by selecting the best set of input features combining meteorological variables and features extracted from the simulated profiles. The accuracy of the danger level predictions ranged between 74 % and 76 % for RF #1, and between 72 % and 78 % for RF #2, with both models achieving better performance than previously developed methods. To assess the accuracy of the forecast, and thus the quality of our labels, we relied on nowcast assessments of avalanche danger by well-trained observers. The performance of both models was similar to the accuracy of the current experience-based Swiss avalanche forecasts (which is estimated to 76 %). The models performed consistently well throughout the Swiss Alps, thus in different climatic regions, albeit with some regional differences. A prototype model with the RF classifiers was already tested in a semi-operational setting by the Swiss avalanche warning service during the winter 2020-2021. The promising results suggest that the model may well have potential to become a valuable, supplementary decision support tool for avalanche forecasters when assessing avalanche hazard.

The random forest (RF) classifier, which is a combination of tree predictors, is one of the most powerful classification algorithms that has been recently applied for fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) of industrial processes. However, RF is still suffering from some limitations such as the noncorrelation between variables. These limitations are due to the direct use of variables measured at nodes and therefore the only use of static information from the process data. Thus, this article proposes two enhanced RF classifiers, namely the Euclidean distance based reduced kernel RF (RK-RF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ED</sub> ) and K-means clustering based reduced kernel RF (RK-RF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Kmeans</sub> ), for FDD. Based on the kernel principal component analysis, the proposed classifiers consist of two main stages: feature extraction and selection, and fault classification. In the first stage, the number of observations in the training data set is reduced using two methods: the first method consists of using the Euclidean distance as dissimilarity metric so that only one measurement is kept in case of redundancy between samples. The second method aims at reducing the amount of the training data based on the K-means clustering technique. Once the characteristics of the process are extracted, the most sensitive features are selected. During the second phase, the selected features are fed to an RF classifier. An emulated grid-connected PV system is used to validate the performance of the proposed RK-RF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ED</sub> and RK-RF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Kmeans</sub> classifiers. The presented results confirm the high classification accuracy of the developed techniques with low computation time.

Introduction: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), is a condition caused by damage to theairways or other parts of the lung that blocks airflow and makes it hard to breathe [1]. COPD is the thirdleading cause of death worldwide, and the seventh leading cause of poor health worldwide [2]. Studieshave shown that 20–86% of people with COPD worldwide may be undiagnosed [3]. As there is currentlyno cure for COPD, early detection is the best option. Current Machine Learning (ML) models focus onusing chest images (CT or X-ray scans) to detect COPD; however, the scanning process can be unsafe forpatients with COPD [4].Methods: This study utilized an open data set containing various physical tests of 100 patients withCOPD. To train this model, the Random Forest (RF) classifier was used. The accuracy was then plottedon a graph.Results: The Random Forest classifier was able to achieve an accuracy of 92.41% with a perfect recallvalue of 1.00. This recall value indicates that the Random Forest classifier was able to correctly diagnoseall of the patients with COPD in this dataset.Discussion: This study developed a novel ML model that can accurately provide a diagnosis for COPD.Further studies could use this code with a larger dataset to obtain a higher accuracy. White individualshave been reported to have a higher prevalence of COPD [5]. By developing a dataset that accounts forrace, we will be able to obtain a more accurate diagnosis.

The objective of this study was to develop a machine learning (ML) application to determine the optimal dosage of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) to curtail corrosion and odor by H2 S in the headworks of a water resource recovery facility (WRRF) without overly consuming volatile fatty acids (VFAs) that are essential for the enhanced biological phosphorus removal. Given the highly diverse datasets available, three subproblems were formulated, and three cascaded ML modules were developed accordingly. The final ML models, chosen based on performance, were able to predict various targeted variables. More specifically, in Module 1, a recurrent neural network (RNN) was designed to predict wastewater characteristics. In Module 2, a random forest (RF) classifier and a support vector machine (SVM) classifier were built with the information from Module 1 along with other datasets to predict the concentrations of VFAs and H2 S, respectively. Finally, in Module 3, with the information obtained from Module 2, another RF classifier was developed to predict NaOCl dosage to reduce H2 S but keeping VFAs within the target range. These efforts are relevant and informative for WRRFs that are considering developing Intelligent Water Systems to predict the wastewater characteristics to make operational improvements. PRACTITIONER POINTS: A recurrent neural network (RNN) using long short-term memory (LSTM) successfully predicted influent wastewater parameters. A support vector machine classifier predicted hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) with 97.6% accuracy. The concentration of VFAs, an important parameter in EBPR, was predicted using a random forest classifier with 93.4% accuracy. The optimal NaOCl dosage for H2 S control can be predicted with a random forest classifier using H2 S, VFAs, and flow.

The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification is already widely used in urban heat island and other climate studies. The current classification method does not incorporate crucial urban auxiliary GIS data on building height and imperviousness that could significantly improve urban-type LCZ classification utility as well as accuracy. This study utilized a hybrid GIS- and remote sensing imagery-based framework to systematically compare and evaluate different machine and deep learning methods. The Convolution Neural Network (CNN) classifier outperforms in terms of accuracy, but it requires multi-pixel input, which reduces the output’s spatial resolution and creates a tradeoff between accuracy and spatial resolution. The Random Forest (RF) classifier performs best among the single-pixel classifiers. This study also shows that incorporating building height dataset improves the accuracy of the high- and mid-rise classes in the RF classifiers, whereas an imperviousness dataset improves the low-rise classes. The single-pass forward permutation test reveals that both auxiliary datasets dominate the classification accuracy in the RF classifier, while near-infrared and thermal infrared are the dominating features in the CNN classifier. These findings show that the conventional LCZ classification framework used in the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) can be improved by adopting building height and imperviousness information. This framework can be easily applied to different cities to generate LCZ maps for urban models.

Lung cancer is one of the three deadliest diseases in the world and has rapidly developed. Based on this, researchers conducted research to predict the factors that influence lung cancer. One method to identify this is using data mining methods and classification techniques. Researchers used several popular algorithms in classification to make comparisons of the most accurate algorithms for lung cancer classification. The algorithms used include K-Nearest Neighbor, Random Forest Classifier, Logistic Regression, Linear SVM, Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, Kernel SVM, and MLPClassifier. The researcher used this algorithm because, in the research that the researcher found on the Kaggle platform, he examined the comparison of the algorithm using the breast cancer dataset. In previous studies, their researchers used SVM, which obtained an accuracy of 96.47%, Neural Networks of 97.06%, and Naïve Bayes with an accuracy of 91.18% to study breast cancer. The difference from previous research is that this study uses several existing algorithms in Machine Learning such as K-Nearest Neighbor, Random Forest Classifier, Logistic Regression, Linear SVM, Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, Kernel SVM, and MLPClassifier. In addition, this research was conducted to see whether the results of the accuracy of the algorithm that the researchers carried out using the lung cancer dataset had different results. The results of this study found that the more accurate algorithms were Random Forest and Gradient Boosting with an accuracy value of 100%, whereas in previous studies, it was the same. Still, Gradient Boosting had a higher accuracy value than Random Forest. Then, based on the data used in this study, the most influencing factors in predicting a diagnosis of lung cancer are obesity and coughing up blood. The results of this study found that the more accurate algorithms were Random Forest and Gradient Boosting with an accuracy value of 100%, whereas in previous studies, it was the same. Still, Gradient Boosting had a higher accuracy value than Random Forest. Then, based on the data used in this study, the most influencing factors in predicting a diagnosis of lung cancer are obesity and coughing up blood. The results of this study found that the more accurate algorithms were Random Forest and Gradient Boosting with an accuracy value of 100%, whereas in previous studies, it was the same. Still, Gradient Boosting had a higher accuracy value than Random Forest. Then, based on the data used in this study, the most influencing factors in predicting a diagnosis of lung cancer are obesity and coughing up blood.

Diabetes claims the lives of thousands each year, and many individuals remain oblivious to their condition until it reaches a critical stage. This study presents a data mining-based approach aimed at enhancing the early detection and prediction of diabetes, utilizing data from the Pima Indian Diabetes dataset. Despite the adaptability of fuzzy C-Means for various data types, the ultimate outcome of the clustering process hinges on the initial placement of cluster centers. Additionally, precision in data clustering is crucial; it can furnish either extensive, well-grouped data for the random forest or limited data, constraining its efficacy. Our principal objective was to enhance the accuracy of fuzzy C-means clustering and the random forest. To boost the model's performance, we incorporated PCA, fuzzy c-means, and the Random Forest approach. Various algorithmic combinations were employed, and the results unequivocally demonstrate that our model surpasses the original outcomes of the Pima Indian Diabetes Dataset in terms of accuracy. The diabetic prediction model achieved a remarkable accuracy of 97.40\% through the utilization of PCA, logistic regression, and K-Means. However, when employing PCA in conjunction with fuzzy C-means and random forests, an even higher accuracy of 98.96\% was attained. Empirical evidence confirms that the implementation of PCA significantly enhanced the accuracy of both the fuzzy C-means clustering approach and the random forest classifier, deviating from previous findings. To improve the model's performance, we used PCA, fuzzy c-means, and the Random Forest approach. Different algorithm combinations were used, and the results clearly show that our model outperforms the original Pima Indian Diabetes Dataset outcomes in terms of accuracy. The diabetic prediction model was improved to 97.40% accuracy using PCA, logistic regression, and K -Means. Using PCA with fuzzy C-means and random forests, however, we achieved an accuracy of 98.96%. Based on empirical evidence, it has been demonstrated that the implementation of PCA improved the accuracy of the fuzzy C-means clustering approach and the random forest classifier. These findings differ from previous findings.

The increasing penetration of renewable energy into power systems has intensified transient power quality (PQ) disturbances, demanding efficient detection and classification methods to enable timely operational decisions. This paper introduces a hybrid framework combining an Improved Adaptive S-Transform (IAST) with a Random Forest (RF) classifier to address these challenges. The IAST employs a globally adaptive Gaussian window as its kernel function, which automatically adjusts window length and spectral resolution based on real-time frequency characteristics, thereby enhancing time–frequency localization accuracy while reducing algorithmic complexity. To optimize computational efficiency, window parameters are determined through an energy concentration maximization criterion, enabling rapid extraction of discriminative features from diverse PQ disturbances (e.g., voltage sags and transient interruptions). These features are then fed into an RF classifier, which simultaneously mitigates model variance and bias, achieving robust classification. Experimental results show that the proposed IAST–RF method achieves a classification accuracy of 99.73%, demonstrating its potential for real-time PQ monitoring in modern grids with high renewable energy penetration.

Brain signal variability has been proposed as an index of the brain’s cognitive capacity. In this work, we examined neural variability by calculating the standard deviation of single trial activation estimates during memory encoding in 30 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 31 elderly controls. We deployed a random forest (RF) classifier, using variability maps as features to distinguish MCI patients from controls, and obtained classification accuracies of up to 86%. We then used partial least squares correlation to identify variability patterns associated with task performance and compared them to the weight maps obtained with the RF classifier.