Java程序辅导

LAB 1- FORESTER IN A BOX PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 
 
 
LAB 1 - FORESTER IN A BOX PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 
Dustin Mays 
 
  
 
December 5, 2021 
Old Dominion University 
Professor J. Brunelle 
CS410W 
LAB 1 FORESTER IN A BOX PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 
 
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Contents 
 
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 2 
1.1 Societal Problem .............................................................................................................. 2 
1.2      Solution ............................................................................................................................ 5 
2. Forester in a Box Product Description .................................................................................... 6 
2.1 Key Product Feature and Capabilities .............................................................................. 6 
2.2 Major Components ........................................................................................................... 9 
3. Identification of a Case Study ............................................................................................... 11 
3.1 Who is the intended Forester in a Box User? ................................................................. 11 
3.2 What is the intended use of Forester in a Box? .............................................................. 12 
3.3      Who might use Forester in a Box in the future? ............................................................ 12 
4. Forester in a Box Product Prototype Description .................................................................. 13 
4.1 Prototype Architecture ................................................................................................... 13 
4.2 Prototype Features and Capabilities ............................................................................... 13 
4.3      Prototype Development Challenges ............................................................................... 13 
5. Glossary ................................................................................................................................. 14 
6. References ............................................................................................................................. 16 
Figures 
Figure 1 - Forest Ownership in Virginia (Brandeis et al., 2018) 
Figure 2 - Returns from forest management (The Value of Pine Production, 2014) 
Figure 3 - Planning tool sensor placement recommendation mockup 
Figure 4 - Health alert heatmap with supporting information and recommendations 
Figure 5 - Major Functional Component Diagram 
 
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1. Introduction 
1.1 Societal Problem: 
Forestry is an often-overlooked industry and technological advancement in production of 
forest products has lagged behind agriculture in general (Choudhry & O’Kelly, 2019). This is 
despite it being a major industry in the Southeastern United States and an increasingly important 
renewable alternative to coal for power and heat generation globally (Choudhry & O’Kelly, 
2019, Mayes, 2016). However, large commercial organizations are increasing their utilization of 
digital technologies such as drones, satellite imagery, and in-situ sensors for monitoring and 
evaluating their forest lands (Choudhry & O’Kelly, 2019). This is typically referred to as 
precision forestry. 
Precision forestry offers a significant advantage in terms of reducing input and forest 
management costs while increasing the timeliness, accuracy, and geographic precision of forest 
management operations (Choudhry & O’Kelly, 2019). This is a welcome development for the 
large forestry organizations, but the tools and expertise required to implement precision forestry 
are often out of reach for individual woodlot owners (Choudhry & O’Kelly, 2019). This is 
especially problematic from industry-wide and economic development perspectives, as most 
forested lands are owned by individuals and families rather than large private or public 
organizations which means that a significant portion of the industry is underperforming 
(Brandeis et al., 2018, see Figure 1).  
 
 
 
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Figure 1 
 
Forest Ownership in Virginia (Brandeis et al., 2018) 
The individual owner could potentially miss out on significant improvements in their 
woodlot’s health and the value of their woodlot should they decide to harvest it for forest 
products (Growing Loblolly Pine for Profit, 2018). Figure 2 illustrates the significant financial 
returns from forest management operations for owners of woodlots planted in pine (The Value of 
Pine Production, 2014). 
Figure 2 
 
Returns from forest management (The Value of Pine Production, 2014) 
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There are several problems facing the individual woodlot owner when it comes to 
understanding and managing their woodlot.  
1.1.1 Lack of forestry knowledge:  
Individual woodlot owners typically lack even basic forestry knowledge. They are 
unlikely to understand what tools are at their disposal for promoting forest health and 
value maximization. They are often unaware of potential issues that must be addressed to 
maximize forest health and value such as handling pests and disease outbreaks in a timely 
manner as well as conducting forest thinning operations to promote overall tree growth 
(Stelzer, 2015; Growing Loblolly Pine for Profit, 2018). 
1.1.2 Limited understanding of their woodlot: 
Woodlot owners’ typical forest management style can be summed up as naively planting 
trees with a vague idea of harvesting them for profit in the future, and very little thought 
and attention is given to monitoring and maintenance (Stelzer, 2015). Without regular 
inspection and inventory these woodlots may go extended periods without growth 
enhancing and protective management activities, and the owner may have little in the 
way of useful data when it comes time to harvest (Stelzer, 2015). This leaves them at a 
severe disadvantage when bargaining with procurement professionals at harvest (Stelzer, 
2015; Brandeis et al., 2018). 
1.1.3 Inability to consistently monitor woodlot health and growth: 
Inventory and inspection of these woodlots if conducted is often practiced on a sporadic 
basis which leaves the woodlot largely unmonitored and unmanaged for most of the time 
between planting and harvest (Stelzer, 2015). 
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1.1.4 Difficulty timing appropriate forest management operations effectively: 
Performing the optimal forest management intervention in a timely manner is difficult for 
an individual woodlot owner, especially when they lack adequate inventory data and 
background knowledge (Growing Loblolly Pine for Profit, 2018; Rochester, n.d.). 
 1.1.5 Expense of hiring a consulting forester: 
Some woodlot owners, especially those with larger woodlots, may choose to employ a 
consulting forester to perform inventory, health screening, and value estimation for their 
woodlots. The consulting forester can deliver a value-enhancing service because of their 
knowledge and systematic approach, but this value comes at a price. The consultants 
often charge a fee-for-service or a percentage of the final harvest’s revenue (Stelzer, 
2015). This expense may be unreasonably high for owners of smaller woodlots or those 
on more marginal lands. 
 1.2 Solution: 
 The solution is Forester in a Box, a hardware and software solution aimed at providing 
the private woodlot owner with timely forest management recommendations based on sensor 
data from within the forest. There are currently several forestry related software tools in the 
market, but most rely on analysis of overhead image which may be several months or even years 
old. Other tools do have an in-forest component but do not provide the same comprehensive suite 
of tools which Forester in a Box provides. Forester in a Box will deliver: 
• A wealth of information regarding a woodlot’s health, growth, and value 
• Consistent health and growth monitoring and archival of this data for future reference 
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• Professional-level forest management recommendations based on the previously 
mentioned monitoring data 
• Professional-level services at a fraction of the consultant’s cost 
2. Forester in a Box Product Description 
Forester in a Box is a full suite of hardware and software tools for monitoring pine woodlots 
with the goal of providing timely forest management recommendations, health alerts, and 
volume and value estimates to maximize the health and value of their woodlot. 
2.1 Key Product Feature and Capabilities: 
Forester in a Box will provide a comprehensive solution starting with a planning tool for 
hardware and sensor setup recommendations based on their woodlot’s specific characteristics. 
After setup, the user will receive regular updates on a web-based platform. The updates will 
include health alerts, forest value and volume estimates, and forest management 
recommendations. Major features include: 
2.1.1 Sensor network placed throughout woodlot for health and growth monitoring:  
These sensors will record images of the woodlot’s trees which will then be fed back to 
the Forester in a Box server for analysis. These sensors will be robust, provide 
redundancy via a mesh network connection, and allow for two methods of data upload to 
the server. 
2.1.2 Planning tool for easy setup: 
The setup experience will provide comprehensive assistance with device selection and 
placement based on the user’s needs and their woodlot’s various characteristics. This will 
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allow for more representative sampling of the woodlot and easier setup. See figure 3 for a 
mockup of the planning tool’s sensor placement recommendations. 
Figure 3 
 
Planning tool sensor placement recommendation mockup 
2.1.3 Visual analysis for growth and health monitoring: 
The sensor image data will be analyzed using state-of-the-art machine learning tools to 
estimate growth and detect potential health issues related to pest, disease, and abiotic 
factors. 
2.1.4 Health alerts for specific areas based on growth, foliage, and stem irregularities: 
Health alerts will be generated for specific stands within a woodlot based on the analysis 
of the sensor image data and comparisons to previous growth and health data. These 
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health alerts will be provided on the web-based interface in the form of a heat map that 
emphasizes problem areas. Each problem area will have corresponding information 
regarding the cause of the alert, for example foliage yellowing or stem discoloration, as 
well as potential causes and recommended actions. See figure 4 for a visual mockup of a 
health alert. 
Figure 4 
 
Health alert heatmap with supporting information and recommendations 
2.1.5 Volume and value estimations and projections: 
This information will be determined based on volume estimates from the image analysis 
and industry standard growth tools will be utilized to determine forest product volume 
projections. The current and predicted volume will be utilized with current timber prices 
to provide a present and future value of the woodlot. 
 
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2.1.6 Forest management recommendations: 
Based on growth rate, canopy closure, overall health, and the user’s objectives forest 
management recommendations will be provided. These could include health alerts, weed 
removal, forest thinning, targeted fertilizer application, and harvesting. 
2.1.7 A wealth of useful and context-relevant information: 
Depending on the current situation, comprehensive information and recommended 
follow-up actions will be provided to the user. These include but are not limited to tips 
for profitable harvesting and bargaining with procurement professionals, health issue 
remediation, and best practices for every management recommendation. 
2.2 Major Components: 
The major components can be viewed in the context of the entire Forester in a Box system in 
Figure 5 below (MFCD). It is important to know the general flow of information to best 
understand the MFCD. The flow of information starts with an individual sensor node recording 
images of the surrounding forest and then sharing those across the mesh network of sensor nodes 
to promote redundancy and to facilitate data upload to the backend server. This is handled either 
manually via our optional sensor connection smartphone application or a cellular connection. 
From there the information will reach the backend server and be processed in order to create the 
health alerts, growth information, etc. that the user will then be able to access via a browser-
based user interface. 
Figure 5 
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Major Functional Component Diagram 
Forester in a Box will incorporate several different software and hardware components: 
• Hardware: 
o Android device with internet access 
o PC desktop or laptop device with internet access 
o Raspberry Pi 2B 
o Camera modules (3-4) with IR-Cut toggle 
o Sleepy Pi Module 
o LoRa wireless module 
o Cellular modem (optional) 
• Software 
o ForestCrowns: USDA Forest Canopy Tool (Winn et al., 2016) 
o Machine Learning Tools: OpenCV, TensorFlow 
o Version Control: Git/GitLab 
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o Issue Tracking: GitLab 
o Database: Amazon RDS w/ MySQL, MySQL 
o Programming Languages: Java, Python, C++, HTML/CSS/JS 
o APIs: ArcGIS 
o IDE: Android Studio, Visual Studio, Geany 
o Testing: Google Test, JUnit, pytest 
3. Identification of a Case Study 
3.1 Who is the intended Forester in a Box User? 
3.1.1 Private woodlot owners: 
Private owners of woodlots planted in pine are the primary intended user of Forester in a 
Box, and the application was originally designed with this user in mind. They often have 
a limited understanding of forestry and their woodlot’s important characteristics (Stelzer, 
2015; Brandeis et al., 2018). Using Forester in a Box will allow them to have a greater 
understanding of their woodlot and be better able to manage it on their own in an optimal 
fashion. This ultimately will lead to improved forest health and a significant 
improvement in the woodlot’s value at harvest.  
3.1.2 Consulting foresters: 
Consulting foresters provide consulting services to private woodlot owners to help them 
achieve their goals which may include maximizing the value of forest products removed 
from the woodlot. Their services may include inventory, forest management planning and 
coordination, and negotiating the final harvest (Stelzer, 2015). The quality of services 
that a consulting forester provides could be greatly augmented via the use of Forester in a 
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Box. They could have more up to date and comprehensive information to assist them in 
their decision making, and Forester in a Box may be a valuable way to differentiate 
themselves from their competitors. They could even reduce the number of visits they 
need to dedicate to each individual woodlot with the ability to track the forest’s health 
and growth remotely. This could lead to cost savings while also increasing the quality of 
their service. 
3.1.3 Public foresters: 
Public foresters provide services much like the consulting forester albeit without the same 
level of service that a paid forester would be able to provide. They also may be involved 
in the management of forests on public lands. Forester in a Box could streamline their 
work and allow for more efficient use of their time and resources. 
3.2 What is the intended use of Forester in a Box? 
Forester in a Box is intended for woodlots planted in pine. This is the most planted tree for 
wood product generation in the southern United States (Brandeis et al., 2018) and a great place 
for Forester in a Box to start making a positive impact on private woodlot owners’ bottom-line. 
Forester in a Box is intended for woodlots of over 10 acres. Anything less would not be cost 
effective for the owner. The optimal area to cover with the sensor network would be 
approximately 200-500 acres, as this is the area in which most individual woodlot owners begin 
to consider hiring a consultant forester (Faulkenau, 2021). 
3.3 Who might use Forester in a Box in the future? 
3.3.1 Logging and Forest Product Companies: 
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Much like the consulting forester, commercial forest product companies who raise trees 
for forest products could utilize Forester in a Box to reduce their costs by reducing the 
number of site visits for inventory and monitoring required. 
3.3.2 Non-profit and public environmental organizations: 
Non-profit and public organizations could utilize Forester in a Box as a part of a 
monitoring tool to guarantee compliance with tree plantings and maintenance related to 
carbon sequestration or environmental remediation. 
4. Forester in a Box Product Prototype Description 
4.1 Prototype Architecture 
[To be completed in CS 411] 
4.2 Prototype Features and Capabilities 
[To be completed in CS 411] 
4.3 Prototype Development Challenges 
[To be completed in CS 411] 
 
  
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5. Glossary 
 
• Abiotic: Related to growth conditions associated with non-living environmental factors 
such as soil moisture, precipitation, temperature, etc. 
• Basal Area:  The cross-sectional area of a tree at breast-height.  A common way to 
describe stand density.  In forest management, it usually refers to merchantable timber 
given on a per hectare or per acre basis. 
• Canopy: the upper level of a forest dominated by the foliage of the forest’s trees. 
• Canopy cover: measure of land area covered by forest canopy 
• Crown/Canopy closure: Crown closure, also known as canopy closure, is an integrated 
measure of the canopy "over a segment of the sky hemisphere above one point on the 
ground"  
• Cruise:  A timber cruise is a sample measurement of a stand used to estimate the amount 
of standing timber that the forest contains 
• Dendrometer: Device for measuring trees  
• Diameter at Breast-Height (DBH): A standard measurement of a tree’s diameter taken 
at 4.5 feet from its base. 
• Forest Management: Catchall term for various tasks that could be performed to promote 
forest health and productively broadly. 
o Thinning: removing a percentage of the forest trees reduces canopy crowding and 
promotes faster growth of the remaining trees. This can be practiced in several 
ways such as systematically removing every fourth tree. Depending on the age, 
condition, and composition of the forest, commercial products may be harvested 
during a thinning operation. 
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o Harvesting: partial or complete removal of trees in a stand. 
o Other management practices may include pruning, pesticide application, and 
various “timber stand improvements” 
• Growth region: A category of a woodlot which has similar growing conditions due to 
slope aspect and slope percentage. These can be treated as a subdivision of the woodlot 
for sampling purposes. 
• Hectare:  Metric unit of area equal to a square with 100m sides or put another way 
10,000m2.   One hectare contains about 2.47 acres.  
• Precision Forestry: The increasingly common practice of utilizing sensor data along 
with sophisticated data analysis to generate forest management recommendations with 
greater precision than previously possible on a large scale. 
• Softwood Trees: Needle-bearing trees, gymnosperms; includes pines, spruce, fir, etc. 
• Stand: “A forest stand is a contiguous community of trees sufficiently uniform in 
composition, structure, age, size, class, distribution, spatial arrangement, site quality, 
condition, or location to distinguish it from adjacent communities” 
• Timber stand improvements: “...forest management practices that improve the vigor, 
stocking, composition, productivity, and quality of forest stands. Improvement results 
from removing lower quality trees and allowing crop trees to fully use the growing space. 
The chief aim of TSI is continued production of more and better timber products. These 
practices can be used to convert lower quality stands into faster growing and more 
productive forests of desirable species.” 
 
  
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6. References 
 
Rochester, M. (n.d.). Forest management. Maine Forestry. Retrieved December 5, 2021, 
from https://www.maineforestry.net/forest-management 
Basic inventory calculations. (n.d.). Rural Tech. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from 
http://www.ruraltech.org/virtual_cruiser/lessons/lesson_10/Lesson_10_PDF.pdf 
Brandeis, T. J., Hartsell, A. J., Randolph, K. C., & Oswalt, C. M. (2018, September). 
Virginia’s forests, 2016 (SRS-223). United States Department of Agriculture. 
https://dof.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/USFS-SRS-223-VAs-Forests-2016_outpub.pdf 
 
Dale, Virginia & Doyle, T.W. & Shugart, Herman. (1985). A Comparison of Tree Growth 
Models. Ecological Modelling. 29. 145-169. 10.1016/0304-3800(85)90051-1.  
 
Faulkena, J. (2021, October 15). Interview with a state forester (D. Mays, Interviewer) 
[Review of Interview with a state forester]. 
 
Fiala, A. C., Garman, S. L., & Gray, A. N. (2006). Comparison of five canopy cover 
estimation techniques in the western Oregon Cascades. Forest Ecology and Management, 
232(1–3), 188–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.05.069 
 
Forest products and markets. (n.d.). Virginia Department of Forestry. Retrieved December 5, 
2021, from https://dof.virginia.gov/forest-markets-sustainability/forest-products-markets/ 
 
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Forest resource information. (n.d.). Virginia Department of Forestry. Retrieved December 5, 
2021, from https://dof.virginia.gov/forest-markets-sustainability/forest-inventory/forest-
resource-information/ 
Growing loblolly pine for profit (No. 33). (2018, March). Virginia Department of Forestry. 
https://dof.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/FT0033-Growing-Pine-for-Profit_pub.pdf 
Jennings, S. (1999). Assessing forest canopies and understorey illumination: canopy closure, 
canopy cover and other measures. Forestry, 72(1), 59–74. 
https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/72.1.59 
Mayes, F. (2016, May 25). Southern states lead growth in biomass electricity generation. US 
Energy Information Administration. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from 
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=26392 
Self, B. (2019, October). Timber stand improvement (No. 1281). Mississippi State University 
Extension. http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/timber-stand-improvement 
Southern pine beetle: When beetles attack. (n.d.). American Tree Farm System. Retrieved 
December 5, 2021, from https://www.treefarmsystem.org/SPBwhenbeetlesattack 
Stelzer, H. E. (2015, March). Selling timber: What the landowner needs to know (No. 
G5051). University of Missouri Extension. 
https://www.ncforestservice.gov/Urban/pdf/UMO_LO_selling_timber.pdf 
The value of pine production. (2014, June). Virginia Department of Forestry. 
https://dof.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/FT0021-The-Value-of-Pine-Production_pub.pdf 
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Why protect your pine forest? (2007, January). Virginia Department of Forestry. 
https://dof.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/Protect-Your-Pine-Forest_pub.pdf 
Winn, M. F., Palmer, A. J., L, S. M., & Araman, P. A. (2016, October). ForestCrowns: A 
transparency estimation tool for digital photographs of forest canopy’s (SRS-215). United 
States Department of Agriculture. https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs215.pdf