Enhanced technique for cylindrical object diameter measurement via low-cost and innovated rotational non-intrusive sensor

Precise tree diameter estimation for a lightweight and intelligent vehicle such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a commercial farm is still an unresolved problem. A lot of UAVs and the ground vehicles (UGV) are navigated across the farm by relying on the aided of the vision sensor as well as laser scanner. All of these methods require an extremely massive image computation, bulky package dimension and some of the components are pricey. This paper evaluates the morphological technique of an innovated infrared scanner technique for cylindrical object diameter measurement which is fundamentally comprised of a low-cost infrared sensor and digital servo motor. Filter algorithm, compensating for the ascertained midpoint of the object was also developed and tested. The method is tested on three different poles with diameters of 9 cm, 11.4 cm and 16.4 cm. It is found that the filtered method, compensating for midpoint data, reduced the error to 82.92% for 9 cm, 30.37% for 11.4 cm and 6.30% for 16.4 cm, respectively.