Prediction of Cotton Yarn Quality Based on Attention-GRU

With the diversification of spinning order varieties and process parameters, the conventional method of determining production plans through trial spinning no longer satisfies the processing requirements of enterprises. Currently, deficiencies exist in predicting spinning quality relying on manual experience and traditional methods. The back propagation (BP) neural network within the realm of deep learning theory faces challenges in handling time series data, while the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network, despite its intricate mechanism, exhibits an overall lower predictive accuracy. Consequently, a more precise predictive methodology is imperative to assist production personnel in efficiently ascertaining cotton-blending schemes and processing parameters, thereby elevating the production efficiency of the enterprise. In response to this challenge, we propose an attention-GRU-based cotton yarn quality prediction model. By employing the attention mechanism, the model is directed towards the input features most significantly impacting yarn quality. Real-world performance indicators of raw cotton and process parameters are utilized to predict yarn tensile strength. A comparative analysis is conducted against prediction results of BP, LSTM, and gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural networks that do not incorporate the attention mechanism. The outcomes reveal that the GRU model enhanced with the attention mechanism demonstrates reductions of 56.3%, 38.5%, and 36.4% in root mean square error (RMSE), along with 0.367%, 0.158%, and 0.190% in mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), respectively. The model attains a coefficient of determination R-squared of 0.954, indicating a high degree of fitness. This study underscores the potential of the proposed attention-GRU model in refining cotton yarn quality prediction and its consequential implications for process optimization and enhanced production efficiency within textile enterprises.