A Gaussian elimination based fast endmember extraction algorithm for hyperspectral imagery

A fast endmember-extraction algorithm based on Gaussian Elimination Method (GEM) is proposed in this paper under the fact that a pixel is an endmember if it has the maximum value in any spectral band of a hyperspectral image when based on linear mixing model. Applying Gaussian elimination is much like performing a lower triangular matrix to transform the hyperspectral image. As more endmembers have been extracted, fewer bands are needed to be involved in the Gaussian elimination process, thus greatly reducing the computing time. The experimental results with both simulated and real hyperspectral images indicate that the method proposed here is much faster than the vertex component analysis (VCA) method, and can provide a similar performance with VCA.