Optical Authenticity in Pushbroom System for Spectral Information Protection

In remote sensing and environmental monitoring, the authenticity of the collected hyperspectral image (HSI) is critical since unauthorized changes could cause inaccurate evaluation. Traditional approaches ensure HSI integrity after the acquisition, leaving the data vulnerable to unauthorized access or modification before applying a protective strategy. In response, this work presents a pushbroom HSI system that integrates an authentication key on the acquisition process, ensuring the key imperceptibility without affecting performance in spectral classification tasks. In addition, this work develops an algorithm designed to simulate attacks through class modifications in the HSI. Additionally, a detection algorithm is proposed to identify modifications by comparing the signed HSI with the altered version, effectively recognizing the embedded key. The proposed method was tested using simulated data and acquired data in the optical laboratory. Results demonstrate that the system maintains classification accuracy, further enhancing imperceptibility. Additionally, modifications are detectable by the key with 99% accuracy.