text: Hyperspectral imaging is part of a class of techniques commonly referred to as spectral imaging or spectral analysis. The term “hyperspectral imaging” derives from the development of NASA's Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) and AVIRIS in the mid-1980s. Although NASA prefers the earlier term “imaging spectroscopy” over “hyperspectral imaging,” use of the latter term has become more prevalent in scientific and non-scientific language. In a peer reviewed letter, experts recommend using the terms “imaging spectroscopy” or “spectral imaging” and avoiding exaggerated prefixes such as “hyper-,” “super-” and "ultra-,” to prevent misnomers in discussion.
  Hyperspectral imaging is related to multispectral imaging. The distinction between hyper- and multi-band is sometimes based incorrectly on an arbitrary "number of bands" or on the type of measurement. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) uses continuous and contiguous ranges of wavelengths (e.g. 400 - 1100 nm in steps of 1 nm) whilst multiband imaging (MSI) uses a subset of targeted wavelengths at chosen locations (e.g. 400 - 1100 nm in steps of 20 nm).
  Multiband imaging deals with several images at discrete and somewhat narrow bands. Being "discrete and somewhat narrow" is what distinguishes multispectral imaging in the visible wavelength from color photography. A multispectral sensor may have many bands covering the spectrum from the visible to the longwave infrared. Multispectral images do not produce the "spectrum" of an object. Landsat is an excellent example of multispectral imaging.
  Hyperspectral deals with imaging narrow spectral bands over a continuous spectral range, producing the spectra of all pixels in the scene. A sensor with only 20 bands can also be hyperspectral when it covers the range from 500 to 700 nm with 20 bands each 10 nm wide. (While a sensor with 20 discrete bands covering the visible, near, short wave, medium wave and long wave infrared would be considered multispectral.)
  Ultraspectral could be reserved for interferometer type imaging sensors with a very fine spectral resolution. These sensors often have (but not necessarily) a low spatial resolution of several pixels only, a restriction imposed by the high data rate.