Sparsity and structure in hyperspectral imaging: Sensing, reconstruction, and target detection

Hyperspectral imaging is a powerful technology for remotely inferring the material properties of the objects in a scene of interest. Hyperspectral images consist of spatial maps of light intensity variation across a large number of spectral bands or wavelengths; alternatively, they can be thought of as a measurement of the spectrum of light transmitted or reflected from each spatial location in a scene. Because chemical elements have unique spectral signatures, observing the spectra at a high spatial and spectral resolution provides information about the material properties of the scene with much more accuracy than is possible with conventional three-color images. As a result, hyperspectral imaging is used in a variety of important applications, including remote sensing, astronomical imaging, and fluorescence microscopy.