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Mr. Azlan Zahid
Penn State University

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0 Deep Learning
0 Machine Vision
0 Digital agriculture
0 precision agricolture
0 Robotic and Automation

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Review
Published: 12 July 2021 in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
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In animal agriculture, deep learning-based approaches have been widely implemented as a decision support tool for precision farming. Several deep learning models have been applied to solve diverse problems related to cattle health and identification. However, an overview of the state-of-the-art of deep learning in precision cattle farming is needed, for which we performed a systematic literature review (SLR). This study aims to provide an overview of the recent progress in deep learning applications for precision cattle farming, in particular health and identification. In the initial search, we retrieved 678 studies from different electronic databases. Only 56 studies qualify the selection criteria, which were then analyzed to extract the data to answer the research questions. The two major applications of deep learning for cattle farming were identified: identification and health monitoring. About 58% of the selected studies are dedicated to cattle identification and the rest for health monitoring. We identified 20 deep learning models that were used to solve different problems, and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) is the most adopted model than others, including Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Mask-Region Based Convolutional Neural Networks (Mask-RCNN), and Faster-RCNN. We identified 19 training networks and of which ResNet is by far the most used. From our selection, 12 model evaluation parameters were determined, of which seven were used more than five times. The challenges most encountered with image quality, data processing speed, dataset size, redundant information, and motion of the cattle during data acquisition. In closing, we consider that this SLR study will pave the way for future research towards developing automatic systems for cattle farming.

ACS Style

Sultan Mahmud; Azlan Zahid; Anup Kumar Das; Muhammad Muzammil; Muhammad Usman Khan. A systematic literature review on deep learning applications for precision cattle farming. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 2021, 187, 106313 .

AMA Style

Sultan Mahmud, Azlan Zahid, Anup Kumar Das, Muhammad Muzammil, Muhammad Usman Khan. A systematic literature review on deep learning applications for precision cattle farming. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 2021; 187 ():106313.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sultan Mahmud; Azlan Zahid; Anup Kumar Das; Muhammad Muzammil; Muhammad Usman Khan. 2021. "A systematic literature review on deep learning applications for precision cattle farming." Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 187, no. : 106313.

Journal article
Published: 15 June 2021 in Sustainability
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Pakistan is facing a severe energy crisis due to its heavy dependency on the import of costly fossil fuels, which ultimately leads to expansive electricity generation, a low power supply, and interruptive load shedding. In this regard, the utilization of available renewable energy resources within the country for production of electricity can lessen this energy crisis. Livestock waste/manure is considered the most renewable and abundant material for biogas generation. Pakistan is primarily an agricultural country, and livestock is widely kept by the farming community, in order to meet their needs. According to the 2016–2018 data on the livestock population, poultry held the largest share at 45.8%, followed by buffaloes (20.6%), cattle (12.7%), goats (10.8%), sheep (8.4%), asses (1.3%), camels (0.25%), horses (0.1%), and mules (0.05%). Different animals produce different amounts of manure, based upon their size, weight, age, feed, and type. The most manure is produced by cattle (10–20 kg/day), while poultry produce the least (0.08–0.1 kg/day). Large quantities of livestock manure are produced from each province of Pakistan; Punjab province was the highest contributor (51%) of livestock manure in 2018. The potential livestock manure production in Pakistan was 417.3 million tons (Mt) in 2018, from which 26,871.35 million m3 of biogas could be generated—with a production potential of 492.6 petajoules (PJ) of heat energy and 5521.5 MW of electricity. Due to its favorable conditions for biodigester technologies, and through the appropriate development of anaerobic digestion, the currently prevailing energy crises in Pakistan could be eliminated.

ACS Style

Muhammad Khan; Muhammad Ahmad; Muhammad Sultan; Ihsanullah Sohoo; Prakash Ghimire; Azlan Zahid; Abid Sarwar; Muhammad Farooq; Uzair Sajjad; Peyman Abdeshahian; Maryam Yousaf. Biogas Production Potential from Livestock Manure in Pakistan. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6751 .

AMA Style

Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Ahmad, Muhammad Sultan, Ihsanullah Sohoo, Prakash Ghimire, Azlan Zahid, Abid Sarwar, Muhammad Farooq, Uzair Sajjad, Peyman Abdeshahian, Maryam Yousaf. Biogas Production Potential from Livestock Manure in Pakistan. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (12):6751.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Muhammad Khan; Muhammad Ahmad; Muhammad Sultan; Ihsanullah Sohoo; Prakash Ghimire; Azlan Zahid; Abid Sarwar; Muhammad Farooq; Uzair Sajjad; Peyman Abdeshahian; Maryam Yousaf. 2021. "Biogas Production Potential from Livestock Manure in Pakistan." Sustainability 13, no. 12: 6751.

Review
Published: 08 May 2021 in Sensors
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Reducing risk from pesticide applications has been gaining serious attention in the last few decades due to the significant damage to human health, environment, and ecosystems. Pesticide applications are an essential part of current agriculture, enhancing cultivated crop productivity and quality and preventing losses of up to 45% of the world food supply. However, inappropriate and excessive use of pesticides is a major rising concern. Precision spraying addresses these concerns by precisely and efficiently applying pesticides to the target area and substantially reducing pesticide usage while maintaining efficacy at preventing crop losses. This review provides a systematic summary of current technologies used for precision spraying in tree fruits and highlights their potential, briefly discusses factors affecting spraying parameters, and concludes with possible solutions to reduce excessive agrochemical uses. We conclude there is a critical need for appropriate sensing techniques that can accurately detect the target. In addition, air jet velocity, travel speed, wind speed and direction, droplet size, and canopy characteristics need to be considered for successful droplet deposition by the spraying system. Assessment of terrain is important when field elevation has significant variability. Control of airflow during spraying is another important parameter that needs to be considered. Incorporation of these variables in precision spraying systems will optimize spray decisions and help reduce excessive agrochemical applications.

ACS Style

Sultan Mahmud; Azlan Zahid; Long He; Phillip Martin. Opportunities and Possibilities of Developing an Advanced Precision Spraying System for Tree Fruits. Sensors 2021, 21, 3262 .

AMA Style

Sultan Mahmud, Azlan Zahid, Long He, Phillip Martin. Opportunities and Possibilities of Developing an Advanced Precision Spraying System for Tree Fruits. Sensors. 2021; 21 (9):3262.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sultan Mahmud; Azlan Zahid; Long He; Phillip Martin. 2021. "Opportunities and Possibilities of Developing an Advanced Precision Spraying System for Tree Fruits." Sensors 21, no. 9: 3262.

Journal article
Published: 28 October 2020 in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
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Robotic pruning is a potential solution to address the issues of labor shortages and high associated costs, but it has challenges due to the unstructured working environment. For successful robotic pruning, target branches have to be reached with fewer spatial requirements for the end-effector cutter and the manipulator. A three-rotational (3R) degrees of freedom (DoF) end-effector was designed considering maneuvering, spatial, mechanical, and horticultural requirements. Simulations were conducted with the end-effector to investigate the reachable workspace, the cutter frame orientation, and the manipulability index. The simulation results suggested that the proposed design has a spherical reachable workspace with a void due to the presence of a physical constraint of the linear arm. The manipulability index was determined to be independent of the rotation of the first and last joint of the end-effector. The prototype of the proposed end-effector was integrated with a cartesian manipulator. An Arduino-based control system was developed along utilizing a Matlab graphical user interface (GUI). A series of field tests were conducted on ‘Fuji’/Bud. 9 apple trees with trellis-trained architecture. The field tests validated the simulation results, and the end-effector successfully cut branches up to ~25 mm diameter at wide range of orientations. This study provides the foundation for future investigations of branch accessibility for pruning with an integrated 3R end-effector and a cartesian manipulator system following a collision free trajectory.

ACS Style

Azlan Zahid; Sultan Mahmud; Long He; Daeun Choi; Paul Heinemann; James Schupp. Development of an integrated 3R end-effector with a cartesian manipulator for pruning apple trees. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 2020, 179, 105837 .

AMA Style

Azlan Zahid, Sultan Mahmud, Long He, Daeun Choi, Paul Heinemann, James Schupp. Development of an integrated 3R end-effector with a cartesian manipulator for pruning apple trees. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 2020; 179 ():105837.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Azlan Zahid; Sultan Mahmud; Long He; Daeun Choi; Paul Heinemann; James Schupp. 2020. "Development of an integrated 3R end-effector with a cartesian manipulator for pruning apple trees." Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 179, no. : 105837.

Journal article
Published: 17 May 2020 in Water
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Agriculture of Pakistan relies on the Indus basin, which is facing severe water scarcity conditions. Poor irrigation practices and lack of policy reforms are major threats for water and food security of the country. In this research, alternative water-saving strategies are evaluated through a high spatio-temporal water footprint (WF) assessment (1997–2016) for the Punjab and Sindh provinces, which cover an irrigated area of 17 million hectares in the Indus basin of Pakistan. The SPARE:WATER model is used as a spatial decision support tool to calculate the WF and establish alternative management plans for more sustainable water use. The average water consumption (WFarea) is estimated to 182 km3 yr−1, composed of 75% blue water (irrigation water from surface water and groundwater sources), 17% green water (precipitation) and 8% grey water (water used to remove soil salinity or dilute saline irrigation water). Sugarcane, cotton, and rice are highly water-intensive crops, which consume 57% of the annual water use. However, WFarea can be reduced by up to 35% through optimized cropping patterns of the existing crops with the current irrigation settings and even by up to 50% through the combined implementation of optimal cropping patterns and improved irrigation technologies, i.e., sprinkler and drip irrigation. We recommend that the economic impact of these water-saving strategies should be investigated in future studies to inform stakeholders and policymakers to achieve a more sustainable water policy for Pakistan.

ACS Style

Muhammad Muzammil; Azlan Zahid; Lutz Breuer. Water Resources Management Strategies for Irrigated Agriculture in the Indus Basin of Pakistan. Water 2020, 12, 1429 .

AMA Style

Muhammad Muzammil, Azlan Zahid, Lutz Breuer. Water Resources Management Strategies for Irrigated Agriculture in the Indus Basin of Pakistan. Water. 2020; 12 (5):1429.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Muhammad Muzammil; Azlan Zahid; Lutz Breuer. 2020. "Water Resources Management Strategies for Irrigated Agriculture in the Indus Basin of Pakistan." Water 12, no. 5: 1429.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2020 in Desalination and Water Treatment
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ACS Style

Abdul Ghafoor; Anjum Munir; Tauseef Ahmed; Muhammad Nauman; Waseem Amjad; Azlan Zahid. Investigation of hybrid solar-driven desalination system employing reverse osmosis process. Desalination and Water Treatment 2020, 178, 32 -40.

AMA Style

Abdul Ghafoor, Anjum Munir, Tauseef Ahmed, Muhammad Nauman, Waseem Amjad, Azlan Zahid. Investigation of hybrid solar-driven desalination system employing reverse osmosis process. Desalination and Water Treatment. 2020; 178 ():32-40.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Abdul Ghafoor; Anjum Munir; Tauseef Ahmed; Muhammad Nauman; Waseem Amjad; Azlan Zahid. 2020. "Investigation of hybrid solar-driven desalination system employing reverse osmosis process." Desalination and Water Treatment 178, no. : 32-40.

Conference paper
Published: 01 January 2020 in 2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting, July 13-15, 2020
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Pruning of apple trees requires 80-120 working hours of labor per hectare accounting for 20% of the total production cost. Robotic pruning is a potential solution to decrease labor dependence and associated costs. Autonomous precise manipulation of a robotic manipulator in presence of obstacles is a challenge. The spatial requirements and collision-free path planning for the robotic manipulator is essential for automated systems. This simulation study focused on investigating the branch accessibility of a six-rotational (6R) degrees of freedom (DoF) robotic manipulator with a shear blade type end-effector. A virtual tree canopy environment was established in MATLAB for simulation. The Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT) obstacle avoidance algorithm was used to establish a collision-free path to reach the target pruning points. The path smoothing and optimization algorithms were also used to reduce path length and calculate the optimize path. The simulation showed that the integrated robotic manipulator reached the pruning points avoiding obstacle untargeted branches. The path generation time, path length, target reaching time, and number of accessible branches (success) and collisions (failure) was recorded. The study provides the foundation information for future work on the development of a robotic pruning system

ACS Style

Azlan Zahid; Long He; Daeun Dana Choi; James Schupp; Paul Heinemann. Collision free Path Planning of a Robotic Manipulator for Pruning Apple Trees. 2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting, July 13-15, 2020 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Azlan Zahid, Long He, Daeun Dana Choi, James Schupp, Paul Heinemann. Collision free Path Planning of a Robotic Manipulator for Pruning Apple Trees. 2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting, July 13-15, 2020. 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Azlan Zahid; Long He; Daeun Dana Choi; James Schupp; Paul Heinemann. 2020. "Collision free Path Planning of a Robotic Manipulator for Pruning Apple Trees." 2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting, July 13-15, 2020 , no. : 1.

Proceedings article
Published: 01 January 2019 in 2019 Boston, Massachusetts July 7- July 10, 2019
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ACS Style

Azlan Zahid; Long He; Lihua Zeng. Development of a Robotic End Effector for Apple Tree Pruning. 2019 Boston, Massachusetts July 7- July 10, 2019 2019, 1 .

AMA Style

Azlan Zahid, Long He, Lihua Zeng. Development of a Robotic End Effector for Apple Tree Pruning. 2019 Boston, Massachusetts July 7- July 10, 2019. 2019; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Azlan Zahid; Long He; Lihua Zeng. 2019. "Development of a Robotic End Effector for Apple Tree Pruning." 2019 Boston, Massachusetts July 7- July 10, 2019 , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2017 in Desalination and Water Treatment
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ACS Style

Azlan Zahid; Abdul Ghafoor; Anjum Munir; Manzoor Ahmad; Abdul Nasir; Syed Amjad Ahmad. Solar desalination of water using evaporation condensation and heat recovery method. Desalination and Water Treatment 2017, 68, 80 -90.

AMA Style

Azlan Zahid, Abdul Ghafoor, Anjum Munir, Manzoor Ahmad, Abdul Nasir, Syed Amjad Ahmad. Solar desalination of water using evaporation condensation and heat recovery method. Desalination and Water Treatment. 2017; 68 ():80-90.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Azlan Zahid; Abdul Ghafoor; Anjum Munir; Manzoor Ahmad; Abdul Nasir; Syed Amjad Ahmad. 2017. "Solar desalination of water using evaporation condensation and heat recovery method." Desalination and Water Treatment 68, no. : 80-90.