The machine vision technology in precision agriculture: A comprehensive review on principles and applications

Population growth and the improvement of the living level have resulted in the use of new methods to produce healthy and quality food. Due to the remarkable development of image processing and machine vision methods, a lot of research has been presented to provide an effective solution based on image processing in various fields of precision agriculture. Researchers have currently widely used image processing in smart farming and gardening, including planting, weed control, irrigation, spraying, fertilization, plant growth monitoring, and crop harvesting. In addition to reducing production costs and agricultural inputs, these methods also have significant effects on the conservation of water resources and protecting the environment. In this review study, image processing-based methods that have been introduced so far for smart weed control, local spraying, and irrigation management are investigated. It is also attempted to evaluate the performance of each method with its advantages and disadvantages. Finally, the future perspectives of image processing applications in the fields of precision agriculture are expressed.