An Algorithm for Learning Crop Management Rules in Protected Cultivation

Abstract

This paper presents a very simple learning algorithm (hereafter called K-algorithm), which was developed in order to automate crop management in protected cultivation. K-algorithm assumes that the rule is formulated as, for example,"if and only if X(1) ∈R(1) OR X(2) ∈R(2) then do action", where R(i) means a certain subset of the domain of a variable X(i). In the if-part not only an OR-combination but also an AND-combination or both of them are allowed (there is a limitation on the form of the combination). Learning is mainly based on the analysis of the distributions of the measured X(i) values when the action was made and those when the action was not made. Although K-algorithm has a limitation in the form of the rules to which it can be applied, it proved to be very computation saving, memory saving and showed acceptable learning ability in learning crop management rules.