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About

About

Raul Manuel Morais Pereira dos Santos graduated in Electrical Engineering (branch of Electronics, Instrumentation and Computer Science) at the University of Trás-Os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal, in 1993. He obtained his Master's degree in Industrial Electronics from the University of Minho in 1998 and a PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (specialty microelectronics) obtained from UTAD in 2004. His aggregation in Electrical and Computer Engineering was obtained in UTAD in 2009. He is currently an Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Engineering Department of the School of Science and Technology of UTAD. His main areas of interest include sensors and sensor interfaces in CMOS microelectronics, energy harvesting techniques to power small and unattended electronic devices and wireless sensor networks in the context of agriculture/precision viticulture. Another area of interest is in the field of biomedical implantable devices, especially in biotelemetry systems regarding vibration microgenerators to produce electric energy inside smart prosthesis. He is currently an integrated member of the Institute of Integrated Systems and Computer Engineering of Porto (INESC-TEC).

Interest
Topics
Details

Details

  • Name

    Raul Morais
  • Role

    External Research Collaborator
  • Since

    01st October 2012
001
Publications

2023

Deep Learning Models for the Classification of Crops in Aerial Imagery: A Review

Authors
Teixeira, I; Morais, R; Sousa, JJ; Cunha, A;

Publication
AGRICULTURE-BASEL

Abstract
In recent years, the use of remote sensing data obtained from satellite or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery has grown in popularity for crop classification tasks such as yield prediction, soil classification or crop mapping. The ready availability of information, with improved temporal, radiometric, and spatial resolution, has resulted in the accumulation of vast amounts of data. Meeting the demands of analysing this data requires innovative solutions, and artificial intelligence techniques offer the necessary support. This systematic review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of deep learning techniques for crop classification using remote sensing data from aerial imagery. The reviewed papers focus on a variety of deep learning architectures, including convolutional neural networks (CNNs), long short-term memory networks, transformers, and hybrid CNN-recurrent neural network models, and incorporate techniques such as data augmentation, transfer learning, and multimodal fusion to improve model performance. The review analyses the use of these techniques to boost crop classification accuracy by developing new deep learning architectures or by combining various types of remote sensing data. Additionally, it assesses the impact of factors like spatial and spectral resolution, image annotation, and sample quality on crop classification. Ensembling models or integrating multiple data sources tends to enhance the classification accuracy of deep learning models. Satellite imagery is the most commonly used data source due to its accessibility and typically free availability. The study highlights the requirement for large amounts of training data and the incorporation of non-crop classes to enhance accuracy and provide valuable insights into the current state of deep learning models and datasets for crop classification tasks.

2023

Design and Control Architecture of a Triple 3 DoF SCARA Manipulator for Tomato Harvesting

Authors
Tinoco, V; Silva, MF; Santos, FN; Magalhaes, S; Morais, R;

Publication
2023 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AUTONOMOUS ROBOT SYSTEMS AND COMPETITIONS, ICARSC

Abstract
The increasing world population, growing need for agricultural products, and labour shortages have driven the growth of robotics in agriculture. Tasks such as fruit harvesting require extensive hours of work during harvest periods and can be physically exhausting. Autonomous robots bring more efficiency to agricultural tasks with the possibility of working continuously. This paper proposes a stackable 3 DoF SCARA manipulator for tomato harvesting. The manipulator uses a custom electronic circuit to control DC motors with an endless gear at each joint and uses a camera and a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) for fruit detection. Cascaded PID controllers are used to control the joints with magnetic encoders for rotational feedback, and a time-of-flight sensor for prismatic movement feedback. Tomatoes are detected using an algorithm that finds regions of interest with the red colour present and sends these regions of interest to an image classifier that evaluates whether or not a tomato is present. With this, the system calculates the position of the tomato using stereo vision obtained from a monocular camera combined with the prismatic movement of the manipulator. As a result, the manipulator was able to position itself very close to the target in less than 3 seconds, where an end-effector could adjust its position for the picking.

2022

Vineyard classification using OBIA on UAV-based RGB and multispectral data: A case study in different wine regions

Authors
Padua, L; Matese, A; Di Gennaro, SF; Morais, R; Peres, E; Sousa, JJ;

Publication
COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE

Abstract
Vineyard classification is an important process within viticulture-related decision-support systems. Indeed, it improves grapevine vegetation detection, enabling both the assessment of vineyard vegetative properties and the optimization of in-field management tasks. Aerial data acquired by sensors coupled to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may be used to achieve it. Flight campaigns were conducted to acquire both RGB and multispectral data from three vineyards located in Portugal and in Italy. Red, green, blue and near infrared orthorectified mosaics resulted from the photogrammetric processing of the acquired data. They were then used to calculate RGB and multispectral vegetation indices, as well as a crop surface model (CSM). Three different supervised machine learning (ML) approaches-support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF) and artificial neural network (ANN)-were trained to classify elements present within each vineyard into one of four classes: grapevine, shadow, soil and other vegetation. The trained models were then used to classify vineyards objects, generated from an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach, into the four classes. Classification outcomes were compared with an automatic point-cloud classification approach and threshold-based approaches. Results shown that ANN provided a better overall classification performance, regardless of the type of features used. Features based on RGB data showed better performance than the ones based only on multispectral data. However, a higher performance was achieved when using features from both sensors. The methods presented in this study that resort to data acquired from different sensors are suitable to be used in the vineyard classification process. Furthermore, they also may be applied in other land use classification scenarios.

2022

VineInspector: The Vineyard Assistant

Authors
Mendes, J; Peres, E; dos Santos, FN; Silva, N; Silva, R; Sousa, JJ; Cortez, I; Morais, R;

Publication
AGRICULTURE-BASEL

Abstract
Proximity sensing approaches with a wide array of sensors available for use in precision viticulture contexts can nowadays be considered both well-know and mature technologies. Still, several in-field practices performed throughout different crops rely on direct visual observation supported on gained experience to assess aspects of plants' phenological development, as well as indicators relating to the onset of common plagues and diseases. Aiming to mimic in-field direct observation, this paper presents VineInspector: a low-cost, self-contained and easy-to-install system, which is able to measure microclimatic parameters, and also to acquire images using multiple cameras. It is built upon a stake structure, rendering it suitable for deployment across a vineyard. The approach through which distinguishable attributes are detected, classified and tallied in the periodically acquired images, makes use of artificial intelligence approaches. Furthermore, it is made available through an IoT cloud-based support system. VineInspector was field-tested under real operating conditions to assess not only the robustness and the operating functionality of the hardware solution, but also the AI approaches' accuracy. Two applications were developed to evaluate Vinelnspector's consistency while a viticulturist' assistant in everyday practices. One was intended to determine the size of the very first grapevines' shoots, one of the required parameters of the well known 3-10 rule to predict primary downy mildew infection. The other was developed to tally grapevine moth males captured in sex traps. Results show that VineInspector is a logical step in smart proximity monitoring by mimicking direct visual observation from experienced viticulturists. While the latter traditionally are responsible for a set of everyday practices in the field, these are time and resource consuming. VineInspector was proven to be effective in two of these practices, performing them automatically. Therefore, it enables both the continuous monitoring and assessment of a vineyard's phenological development in a more efficient manner, making way to more assertive and timely practices against pests and diseases.

2022

UAV-Based Hyperspectral Monitoring Using Push-Broom and Snapshot Sensors: A Multisite Assessment for Precision Viticulture Applications

Authors
Sousa, JJ; Toscano, P; Matese, A; Di Gennaro, SF; Berton, A; Gatti, M; Poni, S; Padua, L; Hruska, J; Morais, R; Peres, E;

Publication
SENSORS

Abstract
Hyperspectral aerial imagery is becoming increasingly available due to both technology evolution and a somewhat affordable price tag. However, selecting a proper UAV + hyperspectral sensor combo to use in specific contexts is still challenging and lacks proper documental support. While selecting an UAV is more straightforward as it mostly relates with sensor compatibility, autonomy, reliability and cost, a hyperspectral sensor has much more to be considered. This note provides an assessment of two hyperspectral sensors (push-broom and snapshot) regarding practicality and suitability, within a precision viticulture context. The aim is to provide researchers, agronomists, winegrowers and UAV pilots with dependable data collection protocols and methods, enabling them to achieve faster processing techniques and helping to integrate multiple data sources. Furthermore, both the benefits and drawbacks of using each technology within a precision viticulture context are also highlighted. Hyperspectral sensors, UAVs, flight operations, and the processing methodology for each imaging type' datasets are presented through a qualitative and quantitative analysis. For this purpose, four vineyards in two countries were selected as case studies. This supports the extrapolation of both advantages and issues related with the two types of hyperspectral sensors used, in different contexts. Sensors' performance was compared through the evaluation of field operations complexity, processing time and qualitative accuracy of the results, namely the quality of the generated hyperspectral mosaics. The results shown an overall excellent geometrical quality, with no distortions or overlapping faults for both technologies, using the proposed mosaicking process and reconstruction. By resorting to the multi-site assessment, the qualitative and quantitative exchange of information throughout the UAV hyperspectral community is facilitated. In addition, all the major benefits and drawbacks of each hyperspectral sensor regarding its operation and data features are identified. Lastly, the operational complexity in the context of precision agriculture is also presented.

Supervised
thesis

2021

Técnicas avançadas de monitorização em aplicações de agricultura de precisão

Author
Jorge Miguel Ferreira da Silva Mendes

Institution
UTAD

2021

Study and implementation of security mechanisms in resource-constrained IoT devices

Author
Bruno Novo Barros Milheiro Nunes

Institution
UTAD

2021

Estimulação e sensoriamento da interface de implantes ósseos ativos instrumentados

Author
Nuno Miguel dos Santos Pinto da Silva

Institution
UTAD

2021

Estudo de soluções de sensoriamento da humectação de folhas

Author
Davide Miguel Costa Machado

Institution
UTAD

2021

Sistema de baixo custo para a medição de cor de vinhos em barrica

Author
Bruno Manuel Gomes Pimenta

Institution
UTAD