Hyperspectral image analysis for standoff detection of explosives

In this work we present a hyperspectral target detection system for identifying traces of explosives on arbitrary surfaces using active infrared laser based backscattering spectroscopy. The spectroscopy system comprises a tunable Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) with a tuning range of 300 cm(-1) as an illumination source and a high performance IR camera for collecting the backscattered light. The resulting measurement data forms a hyperspectral image, where each pixel vector contains the backscattering spectrum of a specific location in the scene. The pixel vectors in the hyperspectral image are analyzed with two well-known target detection algorithms for contamination with explosive substances like PETN, TNT and RDX.