Automating Wood Species Detection and Classification in Microscopic Images of Fibrous Materials with Deep Learning.

Journal: Microscopy and microanalysis : the official journal of Microscopy Society of America, Microbeam Analysis Society, Microscopical Society of Canada
Published Date:

Abstract

We have developed a methodology for the systematic generation of a large image dataset of macerated wood references, which we used to generate image data for nine hardwood genera. This is the basis for a substantial approach to automate, for the first time, the identification of hardwood species in microscopic images of fibrous materials by deep learning. Our methodology includes a flexible pipeline for easy annotation of vessel elements. We compare the performance of different neural network architectures and hyperparameters. Our proposed method performs similarly well to human experts. In the future, this will improve controls on global wood fiber product flows to protect forests.

Authors

  • Lars Nieradzik
    Image Processing Department, Fraunhofer ITWM, Fraunhofer Platz 1, Kaiserslautern 67663, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
  • Jördis Sieburg-Rockel
    Thünen Institute of Wood Research, Leuschnerstraße 91, Hamburg 21031, Germany.
  • Stephanie Helmling
    Thünen Institute of Wood Research, Leuschnerstraße 91, Hamburg 21031, Germany.
  • Janis Keuper
    Institute for Machine Learning and Analysis (IMLA), Offenburg University, Badstr. 24, Offenburg 77652, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany.
  • Thomas Weibel
    Image Processing Department, Fraunhofer ITWM, Fraunhofer Platz 1, Kaiserslautern 67663, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
  • Andrea Olbrich
    Thünen Institute of Wood Research, Leuschnerstraße 91, Hamburg 21031, Germany.
  • Henrike Stephani
    Image Processing Department, Fraunhofer ITWM, Fraunhofer Platz 1, Kaiserslautern 67663, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.