ABSTRACT
Hyperspectral imaging instruments allow data collection in hundreds or even thousands of spectral bands (at different wavelength channels) for the same area on the surface of the Earth [1]. For instance, NASA is continuously gathering imagery data with instruments such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Airborne Visible Infra-Red Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), which is able to record the visible and near-infrared spectrum (wavelength region from 0.4 to 2.5 micrometers) of reflected light in an area of 2 to 12 kilometers wide and several kilometers long, using 224 spectral bands [2]. The resulting multidimensional data cube typically comprises several GBs per flight. As a result, the computational requirements needed to store, manage, and process these images are enormous [3].
