Ma Zhen

Dr. Ma Zhen

College of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

9Years (2018-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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23 December 2018 in Sensors
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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MZMa Zhen
Ma Zhen
XCXiyuan Chen
Xiyuan Chen
The safety monitoring and tracking of aircraft is becoming more and more important. Under aerodynamic loading, the aircraft wing will produce large bending and torsional deformation, which seriously affects the safety of aircraft. The variation of load on the aircraft wing directly affects the ground observation performance of the aircraft baseline. To compensate for baseline deformations caused by wing deformations, it is necessary to accurately obtain the deformation of the wing shape. The traditional aircraft wing shape measurement methods cannot meet the requirements of small size, light weight, low cost, anti-electromagnetic interference, and adapting to complex environment at the same time, the fiber optic sensing technology for aircraft wing shape measurement has been gradually proved to be a real time and online dynamic measurement method with many excellent characteristics. The principle technical characteristics and bonding technology of fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBGs) are reviewed in this paper. The advantages and disadvantages of other measurement methods are compared and analyzed and the application status of FBG sensing technology for aircraft wing shape measurement is emphatically analyzed. Finally, comprehensive suggestions for improving the accuracy of aircraft wing shape measurement based on FBG sensing technology is put forward.

25 November 2024 in Agriculture
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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BCBingbo Cui
Bingbo Cui
XCXinyu Cui
Xinyu Cui
XWXinhua Wei
Xinhua Wei
YZYongyun Zhu
Yongyun Zhu
MZMa Zhen
Ma Zhen
Yufei LiuYufei Liu
Yufei Liu
Smart agriculture development mainly depends on the intelligence and reliability of autonomous agricultural machinery. Automatic navigation systems (ANSs) play a key role in intelligent agricultural machinery design, as they not only reduce farmers’ workloads but also improve their land utilization rates. In this paper, a tractor ANS based on dynamic path search and a fuzzy Stanley model (FSM) was designed, and its capability for whole-field path tracking was tested. First, the tracking performance of the steering control module was validated after the automatic reconstruction of the tractor platform. Then, a navigation decision system was established based on a unified reference waypoint search framework, where the path generation for whole-field coverage was presented. Finally, the gain coefficient of the Stanley model (SM) was adjusted adaptively according to the tracking error by utilizing the fuzzy logic controller. Subsequently, the developed tractor ANS was tested in the field. The experiment’s results indicate that the FSM outperformed the SM in straight path tracking and whole-field path tracking. When the tractor traveled at a speed of 1 m/s, the maximum lateral tracking error for the straight path was 10 cm, and the average lateral tracking error was 5.2 cm, showing improvements of 16.7% and 10.3% compared to the SM. Whole-field autonomous navigation showed that the maximum lateral tracking error was improved from 34 cm for the SM to 27 cm for the FSM, a reduction of approximately 20.6%, illustrating the superiority of the FSM in the application of whole-field path tracking. As the maximum tracking error of whole-field autonomous navigation appears in the turning stage, where tractors often stop working, the designed ANS satisfies the requirements of a self-driving system for unmanned tractors.

16 October 2025 in Agriculture
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MZMa Zhen
Ma Zhen
XWXinzhong Wang
Xinzhong Wang
XCXuegeng Chen
Xuegeng Chen
BHBin Hu
Bin Hu
JWjingbin wang
jingbin wang
Crop row detection technology, as one of the key technologies for agricultural robots to achieve autonomous navigation and precise operations, is related to the precision and stability of agricultural machinery operations. Its research and development will also significantly determine the development process of intelligent agriculture. The paper first summarizes the mainstream technical methods, performance evaluation systems, and adaptability analysis of typical agricultural scenes for crop row detection. The paper also summarizes and explains the technical principles and characteristics of traditional methods based on visual sensors, point cloud preprocessing based on LiDAR, line structure extraction and 3D feature calculation methods, and multi-sensor fusion methods. Secondly, a review was conducted on performance evaluation criteria such as accuracy, efficiency, robustness, and practicality, analyzing and comparing the applicability of different methods in typical scenarios such as open fields, facility agriculture, orchards, and special terrains. Based on the multidimensional analysis above, it is concluded that a single technology has specific environmental adaptability limitations. Multi-sensor fusion can help improve robustness in complex scenarios, and the fusion advantage will gradually increase with the increase in the number of sensors. Suggestions on the development of agricultural robot navigation technology are made based on the current status of technological applications in the past five years and the needs for future development. This review systematically summarizes crop row detection technology, providing a clear technical framework and scenario adaptation reference for research in this field, and striving to promote the development of precision and efficiency in agricultural production.

16 September 2024 in Agriculture
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MZMa Zhen
Ma Zhen
SYSiyuan Yang
Siyuan Yang
JWjingbin wang
jingbin wang
JQJiangtao Qi
Jiangtao Qi
With the development of agriculture, the complexity and dynamism of orchard environments pose challenges to the perception and positioning of inter-row environments for agricultural vehicles. This paper proposes a method for extracting navigation lines and measuring pedestrian obstacles. The improved YOLOv5 algorithm is used to detect tree trunks between left and right rows in orchards. The experimental results show that the average angle deviation of the extracted navigation lines was less than 5 degrees, verifying its accuracy. Due to the variable posture of pedestrians and ineffective camera depth, a distance measurement algorithm based on a four-zone depth comparison is proposed for pedestrian obstacle distance measurement. Experimental results showed that within a range of 6 m, the average relative error of distance measurement did not exceed 1%, and within a range of 9 m, the maximum relative error was 2.03%. The average distance measurement time was 30 ms, which could accurately and quickly achieve pedestrian distance measurement in orchard environments. On the publicly available TUM RGB-D dynamic dataset, YOLOD-SLAM2 significantly reduced the RMSE index of absolute trajectory error compared to the ORB-SLAM2 algorithm, which was less than 0.05 m/s. In actual orchard environments, YOLOD-SLAM2 had a higher degree of agreement between the estimated trajectory and the true trajectory when the vehicle was traveling in straight and circular directions. The RMSE index of the absolute trajectory error was less than 0.03 m/s, and the average tracking time was 47 ms, indicating that the YOLOD-SLAM2 algorithm proposed in this paper could meet the accuracy and real-time requirements of agricultural vehicle positioning in orchard environments.

7 August 2024 in Preprints.org
Verified
Preprint
Open access
PDF file
MZMa Zhen
Ma Zhen
SYSiyuan Yang
Siyuan Yang
JWjingbin wang
jingbin wang
JQJiangtao Qi
Jiangtao Qi
With the development of agriculture, the complexity and dynamism of orchard environments pose challenges to the perception and positioning of inter row environments for agricultural machinery. The paper proposes a method for extracting navigation lines and measuring pedestrian obstacles. The improved YOLOv5 algorithm is used to detect tree trunks between left and right rows in orchards. The experimental results show that the average angle deviation of the extracted navigation lines is less than 5 degrees, verifying its accuracy. Due to the variable posture of pedestrians and ineffective camera depth, a distance measurement algorithm based on four zone depth comparison is proposed for pedestrian obstacle distance measurement. Experimental results show that within a range of 6m, the average relative error of distance measurement does not exceed 1%, and within a range of 9m, the maximum relative error is 2.03%. The average distance measurement time is 30 milliseconds, which can accurately and quickly achieve pedestrian distance measurement in orchard environments. On the publicly available TUM RGB-D dynamic dataset, YOLOD-SLAM2 significantly reduces the RMSE index of absolute trajectory error compared to ORB-SLAM2 algorithm, which is less than 0.05 m/s. In actual orchard environments, YOLOD-SLAM2 has a higher degree of agreement between the estimated trajectory and the true trajectory when the car is traveling in straight and circular directions. The RMSE index of the absolute trajectory error is less than 0.03m/s, and the average tracking time is 47ms, indicating that the YOLOD-SLAM2 algorithm proposed in this paper can meet the accuracy and real-time requirements of agricultural machinery positioning in orchard environments.

6 January 2025 in Agriculture
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
SCSirui Chen
Sirui Chen
JQJiangtao Qi
Jiangtao Qi
JGJianping Gao
Jianping Gao
WCWenhui Chen
Wenhui Chen
JFJiaming Fei
Jiaming Fei
MZMa Zhen
Ma Zhen
Enhancing the intelligence of Tiger nut harvesting equipment with the advancement of agricultural machinery is imperative. Mismatches between excavation feed rate and conveying-separating capacities hinder the efficiency of Tiger nut harvesters. A visualized Tiger nut harvesting platform was designed to address this, incorporating parameters like conveying speed, torque, vibration frequency, and excavation depth. The platform features a mechanical execution part and an automatic control system with speed, torque, frequency, and depth control modules. Mechanical design analysis defined control parameters and methods for each module. An adaptive B-PID controller was proposed for trajectory tracking, combining backstepping and PID. A control model accounting for motion damping and error compensation was derived. Simulink simulations compared B-PID with backstepping controllers, showing B-PID’s robustness and effective trajectory tracking. Actual experiments assessed mechanical-control coordination using relative error metrics. The results showed that the maximum relative error of rotation speed was 3.8%, the maximum relative error of frequency was 3.67%, and the maximum relative error of excavation depth was 1.5%. Correction models for excavation depth and excitation frequency parameters were established. This study offers a theoretical framework to advance the intelligent design of tiger nut harvesting machinery.