Automated Palynological Analysis System: Integrating Deep Metric Learning and $U^{2}$-Net Detection in $H\infty$ bright field microscopy

arXiv cs.CV / 4/21/2026

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Key Points

  • The study introduces an automated, high-throughput microscopy system to replace time-consuming and subjective traditional melissopalynology (4–6 hours per sample).
  • It combines H∞ robust mechanical control with a deep learning pipeline that uses U²-Net for salient pollen object detection.
  • For pollen classification and feature extraction, the system uses a DINOv2 Vision Transformer backbone trained with deep metric learning.
  • Gradient-Weighted Attention is used to generate human-interpretable texture and diagnostic feature annotations, improving interpretability for experts.
  • Reported performance includes 95.8% classification recall and a 6× speedup versus manual expert analysis, indicating strong practical efficiency gains.

Abstract

Traditional melissopalynology is a time-consuming and subjective process, often taking 4-6 hours per sample. We present an automated, high-throughput microscopy system that integrates H\infty robust mechanical control with advanced deep learning pipelines for the precise counting, classification, and morphological analysis of pollen grains from Bio Bio region in south central territory in Chile. Our system employs U^{2}-Net for salient object detection and a DINOv2 Vision Transformer backbone trained via Deep Metric Learning for classification. By integrating Gradient-Weighted Attention, the model provides human-interpretable texture and diagnostic feature annotations. The system achieves a 95.8\% classification recall and a 6x processing speedup compared to manual expert analysis.