Automatic detection and classification of grains of pollen based on shape and texture

Palynological data are used in a wide range of applications. Some studies describe the benefits of the development of a computer system to pollinic analysis. The system should involve the detection of the pollen grains on a slice, and their classification. This paper presents a system that realizes both tasks. The latter is based on the combination of shape and texture analysis. In relation to shape parameters, different ways to understand the contours are presented. The resulting system is evaluated for the discrimination of species of the Urticaceae family which are quite similar. The performance achieved is 89% of correct pollen grain classification.