Proceedings Article | 4 August 1997
KEYWORDS: Vegetation, Imaging systems, Principal component analysis, Reflectivity, Hyperspectral imaging, Calibration, Ocean optics, Image processing, Geographic information systems, Signal to noise ratio
The advanced airborne hyperspectral imaging system (AAHIS) is an operational, high signal-to-noise ratio, high resolution, integrated hyperspectral imaging spectrometer. The compact, lightweight and portable AAHIS system is normally flown in Piper Aztec aircraft. AAHIS collect 'push- broom' data with 385 spatial channels and 288 simultaneous spectral channels from 433 nm to 832 nm, recording at 12 bits up to 55 frames/second. Typical operation incorporates on-chip pixel binning of four pixels spectrally and two pixels spatially, increasing the signal-to-noise ratio and reducing data rate. When binned, the spectral resolution is 5.5 nm and the instantaneous field-of-view is 1 mrad, resulting in a ground sample distance of 0.5 m from 500 m altitude. The sensor is optimized for littoral region remote sensing for a variety of civilian and defense applications including ecosystem surveying and inventory, detection and monitoring of environmental pollution, infrastructure mapping, and surveillance. Since August 1994, AAHIS has acquired over 120 GB of hyperspectral image data of littoral, urban, desert and tropical scenes. System upgrades include real-time spectral image processing, integrated flight navigation and 3-axis image stabilization. A description of the sensor system, its performance characteristics, and several processed images demonstrating material discrimination are presented. The remote assessment, characterization, and mapping of coral reef health and species identification and floral species at Nu'upia Ponds, are shown and compared to extensive ground truthing in and around Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. SETS emphasizes providing georegistered, GIS-integrated, value- added data products for customers to help them solve real- world problems.
