Development and Optimization of Biomass Cleanliness Image Processing Algorithm

位于温尼伯马尼托巴省的Tactica通信公司是一家以创业为导向的数字技术公司，通过成功地建立、重复和改进一个可适应和可扩展的技术基础，创新了其服务提供并开发了新产品。Tactica正在开发一套技术，将在农业应用中提供算法图像处理，作为基于云的环境中的一项服务，在网络和移动应用环境中使用。作为第一个实际应用，该公司正在通过使用图像处理算法来准确确定大麻和亚麻韧皮纤维的质量，这些纤维将被用作生产可再生化学品和纤维的原料。Tactica已经成功地开发了用于麻纤维质量评估测量的算法，并将这些算法集成到现场使用的应用环境中。现在的任务是优化Tactica的生物质纤维清洁度算法，因为清洁度是整体纤维质量的一个重要方面。为了确定技术实现的准确性，需要建立一个受信任的基准，以对照算法得出的结果进行验证。这将通过使用化学和生物分析方法来量化生物质纤维的成分和污染物，并将这些数据与纤维的外观相关联来实现。缺乏精确的投入是更广泛的农业价值链数字化趋势中的一个机会。目前，原始的感官评估很常见，因为准确的模拟评估需要繁琐、耗时的过程。这导致生产商和加工商都缺乏评估质量的机制，从而告知市场价值和更高的利润率机会，包括在更高利润的使用案例中使用高质量纤维。Tactica计划进一步探索商业化道路，通过增加谈判能力或确定特定用例的质量阈值，质量信息的增加将为生产商和加工商带来更高的盈利能力。因此，拟议的研究活动支持Tactica以及其他生物经济私营部门参与者。

Tactica Communications Inc., located in Winnipeg Manitoba, is an entrepreneurially driven digital technology company that has innovated its service offering and developed new products by successfully building, iterating, and improving an adaptable and extensible technology base. Tactica is developing a set of technologies that will provide algorithmic image processing in agricultural applications as a service from a cloud-based environment for use within both web and mobile application contexts. As a first practical application, the company is working on accurate determination of the quality of hemp and flax bast fibres, destined as a feedstock for the production of renewable chemicals and fibres, through the use of image processing algorithms. Tactica has successfully developed algorithms for quality assessment measurements for bast fibre and has integrated these into application contexts for field use. The task now is to optimize Tactica's algorithm for biomass fibre cleanliness, as cleanliness is an important aspect of overall fibre quality. To determine the accuracy of the technology implementation, a trusted benchmark needs to be established to validate algorithmically derived results against. This will be accomplished by using chemical and biological analytical methods to quantify the composition and contaminants of biomass fibres and correlate this data to the visual appearance of the fibres. The lack of precision inputs is an opportunity within the broader trend to digitize the agricultural value chain. Currently, primitive organoleptic assessments are common as accurate analog assessments require tedious, time-consuming processes. This results in both producers and processors missing mechanisms to assess the quality and therefore inform market value and higher margin opportunities, including the use of high-quality fibre in higher profit use cases. Tactica plans to further explore commercialization paths where an increase in quality information results in higher profitability for producers and processors through increased negotiating power or identification of quality thresholds for specific use cases. Therefore, the proposed research activities support Tactica as well as other bioeconomy private sector participants.