Columbia Technology Ventures

High-speed hyperspectral imaging for simultaneous acquisition of spatial and spectral information

Hyperspectral sensors acquire and process information over a nearly continuous, wide range of electromagnetic radiation, with greater detail and range than can be detected with the human eye. Given their extended imaging capabilities, hyperspectral sensors are commonly used to survey environments for weapons, biological agents, and chemicals. This technology describes a high-speed hyperspectral imaging method that acquires both spectral and spatial information simultaneously. The technology applies a specific algorithm that recovers all the image information by decoding the combined spectral and spatial input information.

Compact, efficient, high-resolution hyperspectral imaging that provides nearly lossless compression of data.

Current hyperspectral imaging methods are either unable to capture all the spectral information or cannot simultaneously scan for spectral and spatial information. In these conventional methods, scanning the spatial dimension or multiple frequencies is both time and storage consuming, and can result in a large loss of critical data during scanning. By acquiring the spectral and spatial information at once, this technology provides a method that is able to capture the scene information with high resolution while avoiding data loss. A majority of the physical components required to build this technology are standard and compact. A prototype of the hyperspectral imaging method is currently being worked on and tested.

Lead Inventor:

Dirk Englund, Ph.D.

Applications:

  • Hyperspectral cameras for surveillance in civilian or military applications.
  • Hyperspectral remote sensing to detect minerals underground and to conduct geographical surveys.
  • Chemical imaging to sense composition of materials and detect toxic chemicals.
  • Astronomical hyperspectral imaging to conduct surveys of outer space.

Advantages:

  • Improved recording and transmission of hyperspectral images.
  • Records all spectral and spatial components simultaneously.
  • Compact, efficient, high-resolution design.
  • Nearly loss-less compression of data and optical transmission.

Patent information:

Patent Issued

Tech Ventures Reference: IR CU12032, CU13110

Related Publications:

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