Automated Intelligent real-time system for aggregate classification

Traditionally, mechanical sieving and manual gauging are used to determine the quality of the aggregates. In order to obtain aggregates with better characteristics, it must pass a series of mechanical, chemical and physical tests which are often performed manually, and are slow, highly subjective and laborious. This research focuses on developing an intelligent real-time classification system called NeuralAgg which consists of 3 major subsystems namely the real-time machine vision, the intelligent classification and the database system. The image capturing system can send high quality images of moving aggregates to the image processing subsystem, and then to the intelligent system for shape classification using artificial neural network. Finally, the classification information is stored in the database system for data archive, which can be used for post analysis purposes. These 3 subsystems are integrated to work in real-time mode which takes an average of 1.23 s for a complete classification process. The system developed in this study has an accuracy of approximately 87% and has the potential to significantly reduce the processing and/or classification time and workload. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.