PNNL

Abstract

Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) continues to grow as a method for remote detection of vegetation, materials, minerals, and pure chemicals. We have used a longwave infrared (7.7 - 11.8 µm) imaging spectrometer in a static outdoor experiment to collect HSI data from 24 minerals and background materials to determine the efficacy with which HSI can remotely detect and distinguish both pure minerals and mineral mixtures at three solar angles (25°, 35°, and 45° relative to ground) as well as varying backgrounds and other sample effects. Measurements were obtained separately for the minerals and materials mounted directly both on a bare plywood board and a plywood board coated with aluminum foil: 19 powders (3 mixtures and 16 pure mineral powders) held in polyethylene bottle lids as well as 5 samples in rock form were taped directly to the boards. The primary goal of the experiment was to demonstrate that a longwave infrared (LWIR) library of solids and minerals collected as directional-hemispherical reflectance spectra in the laboratory can be used directly for HSI field identification. Prior to the experiment, all 24 mineral/inorganic samples were measured in the laboratory using a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) equipped with a gold-coated IR integrating sphere; the spectra were assimilated as part of a larger reference library of 21 pure minerals, 3 mixtures, and the polyethylene lid. Principal components analysis (PCA) with mean-centering was used in an exploratory analysis of the HSI images and showed that for the aluminum coated board, the first principal component captured the difference between signal that resembled a blackbody and the highly reflective aluminum background. In contrast, principal components PC 2, 3, and 4 were able to discriminate the materials including phosphates, sulfates, silicates, carbonates, and the mixtures. Results from generalized least squares target detection clearly showed that laboratory reference spectra of minerals could be utilized as targets with high fidelity for field detection, both for pure and mixed samples.