System considerations for multispectral image compression designs

Multispectral image (MSI) compression has evolved into a viable solution for band limited communications problems in current and future remote sensing systems. MSI compression technology continues to mature as research identifies the interaction of compression distortion and typical multispectral exploitation tasks. Understanding of both compression artifacts and exploitation techniques must proceed in parallel because sensitivity to errors (distortion) must be addressed for a much larger usage base. This article provides an introduction to the experience gained from the Advanced Land Remote Sensing System (ALRSS) compression development, and an insight into the challenges of MSI and space-based compression algorithm design. The ALRSS studies provide an initial look at the challenges of designing and evaluating MSI compression systems. The results of these studies have shown that compression rates between 2.2 and 1.3 bpp are viable and feasible for space-based applications today. MSI systems can be designed to include compression without changing the significance of the final image product