Hyperspectral images obviously provide much more detailed information about the scene than a normal color camera, which only acquires three different spectral channels corresponding to the visual primary colors red, green and blue. Hence, hyperspectral imaging leads to a vastly improved ability to classify the objects in the scene based on their spectral properties.
Recent advances in sensor design and processing speed has cleared the path for a wide range of applications employing hyperspectral imaging, ranging from satellite based/airborne remote sensing and military target detection to industrial quality control and lab applications in medicine and biophysics. Due to the rich information content in hyperspectral images, they are uniquely well suited for automated image processing, whether it is for online industrial monitoring or for remote sensing.