Progressive band processing of orthogonal subspace projection in hyperspectral imagery

Progressive band processing (PBP) processes data band by band according to the Band SeQuential (BSQ) format acquired by a hyperspectral imaging sensor. It can be implemented in real time in the sense that data processing can be performed whenever bands are available without waiting for data completely collected. This is particularly important for satellite communication when data download is limited by bandwidth and transmission. This paper presents a new concept of processing a well-known technique, Orthogonal Subspace Projection (OSP) band by band, to be called PBPOSP. Several benefits can be gained by PBP-OSP. One is band processing capability which allows different receiving ends to process data whenever bands are available. Second, it enables users to identify significant bands during data processing. Third, unlike band selection which requires knowing the number of bands needed to be selected or band prioritization PBP-OSP can process arbitrary bands in real time with no need of such prior knowledge. Most importantly, PBP can locate and identify which bands are significant for data processing in a progressive manner. Such progressive profile resulting from PBP-OSP is the best advantage that PBP-OSP can offer and cannot be accomplished by any other OSP-like operators.