I was a bit confused at first because spectral imaging is foundational in astronomy… so that part can’t be the breakthrough. I think what makes it “hyper” is when the spectral resolution is high enough that a separate spectrum is obtained for each pixel of the image.

I found the paper published in Nature:

Abstract

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) finds broad applications in various fields due to its substantial optical signatures for the intrinsic identification of physical and chemical characteristics. However, it faces the inherent challenge of balancing spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution due to limited bandwidth. Here we present SpectraTrack, a computational HSI scheme that simultaneously achieves high spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution in the visible-to-near-infrared (VIS-NIR) spectral range. We deeply investigated the spatio-temporal-spectral multiplexing principle inherent in HSI videos. Based on this theoretical foundation, the SpectraTrack system uses two cameras including a line-scan imaging spectrometer for temporal-multiplexed hyperspectral data and an auxiliary RGB camera to capture motion flow. The motion flow guides hyperspectral reconstruction by reintegrating the scanned spectra into a 4D video. The SpectraTrack system can achieve around megapixel HSI at 100 fps with 1200 spectral channels, demonstrating its great application potential from drone-based anti-vibration video-rate HSI to high-throughput non-cooperative anti-spoofing.

Sounds like the advance here is the sheer bandwidth of data being processed: high frame rate, high resolution, and high spectral detail. They suggest “drone-based anti-vibration video-rate HSI” which at first I thought meant military use, but scientific disciplines also use this capability. For example, the wikipedia article mentions using HSI from drones in order to catch disease outbreaks in grape crops before it spreads.

I can’t believe they stole this from the US!