Adaptive wavelet coding of hyperspectral imagery

The present invention relates in general to data compression techniques and, more particularly, to data compression of hyperspectral imagery. A hyperspectral image encoder () for compressing hyperspectral imagery includes a differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) loop () to perform data decorrelation in the spectral domain and a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) processing means () to perform decorrelation in the spatial domain. The DPCM loop () determines an error image between a present image at the input of the encoder () and a predicted image. The DWT processing means () then divides the error image into a plurality of frequency subbands and quantizes information within the subbands in accordance with a plurality of predetermined quantization states to provide a coded output signal. In one embodiment, an interband predictor () is provided to predict an image, for use in calculating the error image, using the coded output signal.