Channel-optimized hyperspectral image coding

This paper presents a wavelet-based hyperspectral image coder that is optimized for transmission over the binary symmetric channel (BSC). The proposed coder uses a robust channel-optimized trellis-coded quantization (COTCQ) stage that is designed to optimize the image coding based on the channel characteristics. This optimization is performed only at the level of the source encoder, and does not include any channel coding for error protection. The robust nature of the coder increases the security level of the encoded bit stream and provides a much more visually pleasing rendition of the decoded image. In the absence of channel noise, the proposed coder is shown to achieve a compression ratio greater than 70:1, with an average PSNR of the coded hyperspectral sequence exceeding 40 dB. Additionally, the coder is shown to exhibit graceful degradation with increasing channel errors.