Design of an Intelligent Variable-Flow Recirculating Aquaculture System Based on Machine Learning Methods

• Main Authors: Fudi Chen, Yishuai Du, Tianlong Qiu, Zhe Xu, Li Zhou, Jianping Xu, Ming Sun, Ye Li, Jianming Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: recirculating aquaculture system; variable-flow regulation model; circulating pump-drum filter linkage working technique; machine learning methods; gene algorithm support vector machine
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/14/6546

A recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) can reduce water and land requirements for intensive aquaculture production. However, a traditional RAS uses a fixed circulation flow rate for water treatment. In general, the water in an RAS is highly turbid only when the animals are fed and when they excrete. Therefore, RAS water quality regulation technology based on process control is proposed in this paper. The intelligent variable-flow RAS was designed based on the circulating pump-drum filter linkage working model. Machine learning methods were introduced to develop the intelligent regulation model to maintain a clean and stable water environment. Results showed that the long short-term memory network performed with the highest accuracy (training set 100%, test set 96.84%) and F1-score (training 100%, test 93.83%) among artificial neural networks. Optimization methods including grid search, cuckoo search, linear squares, and gene algorithm were proposed to improve the classification ability of support vector machine models. Results showed that all support vector machine models passed cross-validation and could meet accuracy standards. In summary, the gene algorithm support vector machine model (accuracy: training 100%, test 98.95%; F1-score: training 100%, test 99.17%) is suitable as an optimal variable-flow regulation model for an intelligent variable-flow RAS.