An experimental comparison of parallel algorithms for hyperspectral analysis using heterogeneous and homogeneous networks of workstations

Imaging spectroscopy, also known as hyperspectral imaging, is a new technique that has gained tremendous popularity in many research areas, including satellite imaging and aerial reconnaissance. In particular, NASA is continuously gathering high-dimensional image data from the surface of the earth with hyperspectral sensors such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) or the Hyperion hyperspectral imager aboard NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft. Despite the massive volume of scientific data commonly involved in hyperspectral imaging applications, very few parallel strategies for hyperspectral analysis are currently available, and most of them have been designed in the context of homogeneous computing platforms. However, heterogeneous networks of workstations represent a very promising cost-effective solution that is expected to play a major role in the design of high-performance computing platforms for many on-going and planned remote sensing missions. Our main goal in this paper is to understand parallel performance of hyperspectral imaging algorithms comprising the standard hyperspectral data processing chain (which includes pre-processing, selection of pure spectral components and linear spectral unmixing) in the context of fully heterogeneous computing platforms. For that purpose, we develop an exhaustive quantitative and comparative analysis of several available and new parallel hyperspectral imaging algorithms by comparing their efficiency on both a fully heterogeneous network of workstations and a massively parallel homogeneous cluster at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.