Data Processing Method Applying Principal Component Analysis and Spectral Angle Mapper for Imaging Spectroscopic Sensors

A data processing method for hyperspectral images is presented. Each image contains the whole diffuse reflectance spectra of the analyzed material for all the spatial positions along a specific line of vision. This data processing method is composed of two blocks: data compression and classification unit. Data compression is performed by means of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the spectral interpretation algorithm for classification is the Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM). This strategy of classification applying PCA and SAM has been successfully tested on the raw material on-line characterization in the tobacco industry. In this application case the desired raw material (tobacco leaves) should be discriminated from other unwanted spurious materials, such as plastic, cardboard, leather, candy paper, etc. Hyperspectral images are recorded by a spectroscopic sensor consisting of a monochromatic camera and a passive Prism- Grating-Prism device. Performance results are compared with a spectral interpretation algorithm based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN).