Applying an Artificial Neural Network to Pattern Recognition in Fabric Defects

In this paper, we evaluate the efficiency and accuracy of a method of detecting fabric defects that have been classified into different categories by a neural network. Four kinds of fabric defects most likely to be found during weaving were learned by the network. Based on the principle of the back-propagation algorithm of learning rule, fabric defects could be detected and classified exactly. The method used for processing image feature extraction is a co-occurrence-based method, by which six feature parameters are obtained. All of them consist of contrast measurements, which involve three spatial displacements (i.e., 1, 12, 16) and four directions (0, 45, 90, 135 degrees) of fabric defects' images used for classification. The results show that fabric defects inspected by means of image recognition in accordance with the artificial neural network agree approximately with initial expectations.