Ensemble deep learning for high-precision classification of 90 rice seed varieties from hyperspectral images

To develop rice varieties with better nutritional qualities, it is important to classify rice seeds accurately. Hyperspectral imaging can be used to extract spectral information from rice seeds, which can then be used to classify them into different varieties. The challenges of precise classification increase when there are many classes and few training samples. In this paper, we present a novel method for high-precision Hyperspectral Image (HSI) classification of 90 different classes of rice seeds using ensemble deep learning. Our method first employs band selection techniques to select the optimal hyperspectral bands for rice seed classification. Then, a deep neural network is trained with the selected hyperspectral and RGB data from rice seed images to obtain different models for different bands. Finally, an ensemble of deep learning models is employed to classify rice seed images and improve classification accuracy. The proposed method achieves an overall precision ranging from 92.73 to 96.17% despite a large number of classes and low data samples for each class and with only 15 selected hyperspectral bands. This precision is significantly higher than the state-of-the-art classical machine learning methods like random forest, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed method in classifying hyperspectral images of rice seeds.