DropSense: A Novel Imaging Software for the Analysis of Spray Parameters on Water-Sensitive Papers


ÖZLÜOYMAK Ö. B., İTMEÇ M., SOYSAL A.

Applied Sciences (Switzerland), cilt.16, sa.3, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 16 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3390/app16031197
  • Dergi Adı: Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Compendex, INSPEC, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: DropSense, LabVIEW, overlapping droplets, spray parameters
  • Çukurova Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Measuring the spray parameters and providing feedback on the quality of the spraying is critical to ensuring that the spraying material reaches to the appropriate region. A novel software entitled DropSense was developed to determine spray parameters quickly and accurately compared to DepositScan, ImageJ 1.54d and Image-Pro 10 software. Water-sensitive papers (WSP) were used to determine spray parameters such as deposit coverage, total deposits counted, DV10, DV50, DV90, density, deposit area and relative span values. Upon execution of the developed software, these parameters were displayed on the computer screen and then saved in an Excel spreadsheet file at the end of the image analysis. A conveyor belt system with three different belt speeds (4, 5 and 6 km h−1) and four nozzle types (AI11002, TXR8002, XR11002, TTJ6011002) were used for carrying out the spray experiments. The novel software was developed in the LabVIEW programming language. Compared WSP image results related to the mentioned spray parameters were statistically evaluated. The results showed that the DropSense software had superior speed and ease of use in comparison to the other software for the image analysis of WSPs. The novel software showed mostly similar or more reliable performance compared to the existing software. The core technical innovation of DropSense lay in its integration of advanced morphological operations, which enable the accurate separation and quantification of overlapping droplet stains on WSPs. In addition, it performed fully automated processing of WSP images and significantly reduced analysis time compared to commonly used WSP image analysis software.