Estimating the Number of Endmembers in Hyperspectral Images Using the Normal Compositional Model and a Hierarchical Bayesian Algorithm

This paper studies a semi-supervised Bayesian unmixing algorithm for hyperspectral images. This algorithm is based on the normal compositional model recently introduced by Eismann and Stein. The normal compositional model assumes that each pixel of the image is modeled as a linear combination of an unknown number of pure materials, called endmembers. However, contrary to the classical linear mixing model, these endmembers are supposed to be random in order to model uncertainties regarding their knowledge. This paper proposes to estimate the mixture coefficients of the Normal Compositional Model (referred to as abundances) as well as their number using a reversible jump Bayesian algorithm. The performance of the proposed methodology is evaluated thanks to simulations conducted on synthetic and real AVIRIS images.