The accurate and rapid acquisition of crop and weed information is an important prerequisite for automated weeding operations. This paper proposes the application of a network model based on Faster R-CNN for weed identification in images of cropping areas. The feature pyramid network (FPN) algorithm is integrated into the Faster R-CNN network to improve recognition accuracy. The Faster R-CNN deep learning network model is used to share convolution features, and the ResNeXt network is fused with FPN for feature extractions. Tests using >3000 images for training and >1000 images for testing demonstrate a recognition accuracy of >95%. The proposed method can effectively detect weeds in images with complex backgrounds taken in the field, thereby facilitating accurate automated weed control systems.
