Cell-Based Two-Step Scalar Deadzone Quantization for High Bit-Depth Hyperspectral Image Coding

Remote sensing images often need to be coded and/or transmitted with constrained computational resources. Among other features, such images commonly have high spatial, spectral, and bit-depth resolution, which may render difficult their handling. This letter introduces an embedded quantization scheme based on two-step scalar deadzone quantization (2SDQ) that enhances the quality of transmitted images when coded with a constrained number of bits. The proposed scheme is devised for use in JPEG2000. It is named cell-based 2SDQ since it uses cells, i.e., small sets of wavelet coefficients within the codeblocks defined by JPEG2000. Cells permit a finer discrimination of coefficients in which to apply the proposed quantizer. Experimental results indicate that the proposed scheme is especially beneficial for high bit-depth hyperspectral images.