RGB detectors on compressive snapshot multi-spectral imagers

The coded aperture snapshot spectral imager (CASSI) system has been demonstrated to produce spectral images using just a single snapshot taken by a monochrome image sensor. In this paper, we introduce the use of color image sensors in CASSI to include the spectral sensitivity of the image sensor pixels to account for color and then investigate the impact on image quality. We analyze the use of the traditional Bayer color filter array image sensor, and the novel Foveon image sensor which stacks red, green, and blue pixels on top of one another. Several simulations on different 3D spatio-spectral databases show improvements of up to 3 dBs in terms of PSNR over traditional monochrome sensors.