Felix Wiemann

Bio: Felix Wiemann is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: User interface design & Information visualization. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 2 publications receiving 8 citations.

ClimateCharts.net – an interactive climate analysis web platform

Abstract: This article describes the conception and implementation of a web platform which uses special charts and maps for climate monitoring and analysis. At first it gives an overview of related web appli...

ClimateCharts.net - eine Webanwendung zur Erzeugung räumlich und zeitlich variabler Klimadiagramme.

Abstract: In this article a web application for the dynamic generation of spatial and time variant climate charts is presented. It is based on globally interpolated raster data for the variables temperature and precipitation for the period 1901-2014 with a geometric resolution of 0.5°. The visualization complies with the well-known Walter-Lieth chart. It enables the user to classify a regional climate within the annual cycle and lets him compare local climates of different places. The implementation is built with current web technologies and has a user friendly interface.

Water Erosion Monitoring and Prediction in Response to the Effects of Climate Change Using RUSLE and SWAT Equations: Case of R’Dom Watershed in Morocco

Abstract: Soil erosion is an increasingly issue worldwide, due to several factors including climate variations and humans’ activities, especially in Mediterranean ecosystems. Therefore, the aim of this paper is: (i) to quantify and to predict soil erosion rate for the baseline period (2000–2013) and a future period (2014–2027), using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in the R’Dom watershed in Morocco, based on the opportunities of Remote Sensing (RS) techniques and Geographical Information System (GIS) geospatial tools. (ii) we based on classical statistical downscaling model (SDSM) for rainfall prediction. Due to the lack of field data, the model results are validated by expert knowledge. As a result of this study, it is found that both agricultural lands and bare lands are most affected by soil erosion. Moreover, it is showed that soil erosion in the watershed was dominated by very low and low erosion. Although the area of very low erosion and low erosion continued to decrease. Hence, we hereby envisage that our contribution will provide a more complete understanding of the soil degradation in this study area and the results of this research could be a crucial reference in soil erosion studies and also may serve as a valuable guidance for watershed management strategies.

High Accuracy Pre-Harvest Sugarcane Yield Forecasting Model Utilizing Drone Image Analysis, Data Mining, and Reverse Design Method

Abstract: This article presents a new model for forecasting the sugarcane yield that substantially reduces current rates of assessment errors, providing a more reliable pre-harvest assessment tool for sugarcane production. This model, called the Wondercane model, integrates various environmental data obtained from sugar mill surveys and government agencies with the analysis of aerial images of sugarcane fields obtained with drones. The drone images enable the calculation of the proportion of unusable sugarcane (the defect rate) in the field. Defective cane can result from adverse weather or other cultivation issues. The Wondercane model is developed on the principle of determining the yield not through data in regression form but rather through data in classification form. The Reverse Design method and the Similarity Relationship method are applied for feature extraction of the input factors and the target outputs. The model utilizes data mining to recognize and classify the dataset from the sugarcane field. Results show that the optimal performance of the model is achieved when: (1) the number of Input Factors is five, (2) the number of Target Outputs is 32, and (3) the Random Forest algorithm is used. The model recognized the 2019 training data with an accuracy of 98.21%, and then it correctly forecast the yield of the 2019 test data with an accuracy of 89.58% (10.42% error) when compared to the actual yield. The Wondercane model correctly forecast the harvest yield of a 2020 dataset with an accuracy of 98.69% (1.31% error). The Wondercane model is therefore an accurate and robust tool that can substantially reduce the issue of sugarcane yield estimate errors and provide the sugar industry with improved pre-harvest assessment of sugarcane yield.

SENERGY: A Novel Deep Learning-Based Auto-Selective Approach and Tool for Solar Energy Forecasting

Abstract: Researchers have made great progress in developing cutting-edge solar energy forecasting methods. However, these methods are far from optimal in terms of their accuracy, generalizability, benchmarking, and other requirements. Particularly, no single method performs well across all climates and weather due to the large variations in meteorological data. This paper proposes SENERGY (an acronym for sustainable energy), a novel deep learning-based auto-selective approach and tool that, instead of generalizing a specific model for all climates, predicts the best performing deep learning model for global horizontal irradiance (GHI) forecasting in terms of forecasting error. The approach is based on carefully devised deep learning methods and feature sets created through an extensive analysis of deep learning forecasting and classification methods using ten meteorological datasets from three continents. We analyze the tool in great detail through a variety of metrics and means for performance analysis, visualization, and comparison of solar forecasting methods. SENERGY outperforms existing methods in all performance metrics including mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), the normalized versions of these three metrics (nMAE, nRMSE, nMAPE), forecast skill (FS), and relative forecasting error. The long short-term memory-autoencoder model (LSTM-AE) outperformed the other four forecasting models and achieved the best results (nMAE = nRMSE = nMAPE = 0.02). The LSTM-AE model is the most accurate in all weather conditions. Predictions for sunny days are more accurate than for cloudy days as well as for summer compared to winter. SENERGY can predict the best forecasting model with 81% accuracy. The proposed auto-selective approach can be extended to other research problems, such as wind energy forecasting, and to predict forecasting models based on different criteria such as the energy required or speed of model execution, different input features, different optimizations of the same models, or other user preferences.