Classification of Pistachio Species Using Improved k-NN Classifier

In order to keep the economic value of pistachio nuts which have an important place in the agricultural economy, the efficiency of post-harvest industrial processes is very important. To provide this efficiency, new methods and technologies are needed for the separation and classification of pistachios. Different pistachio species address different markets, which increases the need for the classification of pistachio species. In this study, it is aimed to develop a classification model different from traditional separation methods, based on image processing and artificial intelligence which are capable to provide the required classification. A computer vision system has been developed to distinguish two different species of pistachios with different characteristics that address different market types. 2148 sample image for these two kinds of pistachios were taken with a high-resolution camera. The image processing techniques, segmentation and feature extraction were applied on the obtained images of the pistachio samples. A pistachio dataset that has sixteen attributes was created. An advanced classifier based on k-NN method, which is a simple and successful classifier, and principal component analysis was designed on the obtained dataset. In this study; a multi-level system including feature extraction, dimension reduction and dimension weighting stages has been proposed. Experimental results showed that the proposed approach achieved a classification success of 94.18%. The presented high-performance classification model provides an important need for the separation of pistachio species and increases the economic value of species. In addition, the developed model is important in terms of its application to similar studies.