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A Hyperspectral Imaging System for Agricultural Applications

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  011107,  2001 ASAE Annual Meeting. (doi: 10.13031/2013.5521) @2001
Authors:   Chenghai Yang, James H. Everitt, Chengye Mao
Keywords:   Binning, Digital camera, Hyperspectral imagery, Imaging spectrograph, Geometric correction.

This paper describes an airborne hyperspectral imaging system assembled by ITD/Spectral Visions at Stennis Space Center, MS, under a research agreement with the USDA Agricultural Research Service.s Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center at Weslaco, Texas. The main components of the imaging system consist of a high performance digital camera, an imaging spectrograph, an optional focal plane scanner, and a PC computer equipped with a frame grabber board and camera control software. The camera has a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor with 1280(h)x 1024(v) pixels and a 12-bit A/D converter. The imaging spectrograph that serves as a hyperspectral imaging filter is installed to the camera via an adapter. The effective spectral range resulting from this configuration is from 467.2 nm to 931.7 nm. The software allows complete camera control and image acquisition. The horizontal and vertical binning capabilities of the camera make it possible to obtain images with various spatial (160 to 1280 pixels in image width) and spectral (32 to 1024 bands) resolutions. The imaging system captures one line image for all the bands at a time and the aircraft provides a mobile platform to carry out the scanning along the flight line. The optional focal plane scanner can be attached to the front of the spectrograph via another adapter for stationary image acquisition or for compensation of the forward motion of the airborne platform to increase the along-track spatial resolution. Images with all possible combinations of binning factors were collected in a laboratory setting. Airborne images with 128 bands and a width of 640 pixels were also obtained from a grain sorghum field. A simple approach based on a reference line on the image was developed to correct geometric distortions of the airborne hyperspectral imagery. Preliminary image acquisition testing trials indicate that this CCD camera- based hyperspectral imaging system has potential for agricultural applications.

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