{"id":964,"date":"2026-04-09T20:14:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/?page_id=964"},"modified":"2026-04-10T00:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:32:17","slug":"ai-driven-tree-analysis-and-simulation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/ai-driven-tree-analysis-and-simulation\/","title":{"rendered":"AI-Driven Tree Analysis and Simulation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \n\n
\n
\n

Area 2 \u2014 AI-Driven Tree Analysis and Simulation<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n
\n
\n \n\n
\n
\n

Large-scale data collection only creates value if it can be efficiently analyzed. Our lab develops deep learning models that extract ecologically meaningful information from 3D point cloud data \u2014 detecting individual trees, estimating their dimensions and biomass, classifying species, and simulating tree growth trajectories over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent work includes AI models for reconstructing the three-dimensional architecture of individual trees, mapping urban tree cover at national scales, and building super-resolution algorithms that enhance low-density LiDAR data and coarse satellite imagery for individual-tree-level analysis. The lab also developed iForester<\/strong>, a smartphone application that allows landowners, students, and the public to measure trees and estimate timber value using only a phone \u2014 making digital forestry accessible far beyond the research community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"This<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Publication<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Shao, J., Choi, D.H., Liu, J., Tian, X., Thapa, B., Lee, S., Habib, A., & Fei, S. (2026). <\/strong>A three-stage framework for stand-level automated stem volume estimation in temperate forests using mobile laser scanning. Remote Sensing of Environment<\/em>, 335, 115246. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.rse.2026.115246<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Jung, M., Choi, J., Carpenter, J., Fei, S., & Jung, J. (2025). <\/strong>Individual tree biomass estimation using single-scan terrestrial laser scanner with efficient projection-based deep learning. Journal of Forestry<\/em>. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s44392-025-00065-6<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Zhou, X., Li, B., Benes, B., Habib, A., Fei, S., Shao, J., & Pirk, S. (2025). <\/strong>TreeStructor: Forest reconstruction with neural ranking. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing<\/em>, 63, 4408419. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/TGRS.2025.3558312<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Carpenter, J., Jung, M., Goel, A., Fei, S., & Jung, J. (2025). <\/strong>Species classification of northern hardwood forest inventories from terrestrial laser scans and airborne LiDAR. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change<\/em>, 8, 1500178. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/ffgc.2025.1500178<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Carpenter, J., Jung, J., Oh, S., Hardiman, B., & Fei, S. (2022). <\/strong>An unsupervised canopy-to-root pathing (UCRP) tree segmentation algorithm for automatic forest mapping. Remote Sensing<\/em>, 14(17), 4274. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs14174274<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-964","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1011,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/964\/revisions\/1011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/nrsa-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}