http://www.ieee-whispers.com
Summary report by Jocelyn Chanussot

With the technical sponsorship of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) and held last August in Grenoble, France, the 2009 Workshop on Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing – Evolution in Remote Sensing (WHISPERS) was a great success, gathering 200 researchers from 30 different countries worldwide.

There were a total of 158 submitted papers, including 108 regular submissions and 50 invited contributions for selected special sessions. Among the 108 regular submitted papers, 87 have been accepted, corresponding to a 20% rejection rate. The evaluation of all the papers (including special session papers) was performed based on the reports of anonymous reviewers. In average, each paper received 2.8 reviews. The final program included 16 oral sessions for 86 presentations and 6 poster sessions for 51 presentations. All the papers published at WHISPERS 2009 were available on IEEE Xplore less than 6 weeks after the workshop.

The technical program also included three outstanding plenary talks, with both a wide geographical distribution and a wide thematic distribution:

• Alan M. Lefcourt, from the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Lab., USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, USA, talked about hyperspectral imaging and food safety.
• Gianrico Filacchione, from the VIRTIS science/technical team, INAF-IASF Rome, Italy, talked about planetary exploration with VIS-NIT imaging spectrometers, discussing the VIRTIS-M case.
• the Department of Forest Production, Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia, talked about hyperspectral remote sensing for tropical forestry applications.

The workshop was sponsored by various companies and institutions. We take this opportunity to thank our exhibitors, (NEO, Actimar, ASD Inc., and Bonsai Advanced Technologies), and our sponsors. In particular, Norsk Elektro Optikk AS (NEO), our Norwegian partner, was present, demonstrating their most recent equipment. All the volunteering participants had the chance to serve as a model to enjoy a hyperspectral picture of themselves.

Three papers were selected to receive a Best Paper Award. The authors received one of the most sought-after trophies, a copy of the “golden whispers”, and a certificate of recognition. Congratulations!

• Jochem Verrelst, Michael Schaepman and Jan Clevers for their outstanding contribution “Fusing Minaert-K with Spectral Unmixing Forest Heterogeneity Mapping Using CHRIS-PROBA Data”
• Mario Parente, James Clark, Adrian Brown and Janice Bishop for their outstanding contribution “Simulation of the Image Generation Process for CRISM Spectrometer Data”
• Steven Adler-Golden for his outstanding contribution “Improved Hyperspectral Anomaly Detection in Heavy-Tailed Backgrounds”.

Beyond the technical program, whose quality was highly appreciated by all the attendees, the workshop included some nice social events, including an icebreaker reception at the Grenoble city-house and a banquet on the top of the Bastille with a breath-taking view over the city and the surrounding mountains.

Going up the Bastille using the cable-car was surely a highlight of the event, but all the attendees were rewarded during the dinner by the close-up animation of a magician.

WHISPERS 2010 Hits the North!
Next June, the 2010 edition of WHISPERS will be held in Reykjavik, Iceland. The same policy will be used: submission of full 4-page papers (deadline: February 15th) and anonymous peer-review to ensure the optimal quality of the technical contributions. If you are interested in organizing and chairing a special session, or if you want to become a sponsor or an exhibitor, please be in touch with the organizing committee.

The picture above features Prof. Jon Atli Benediktsson, the General Chair of WHISPERS 2010 receiving the “Golden Whispers” from Prof. Jocelyn Chanussot, General Chair of WHISPERS 2009. As the conference travels from place to place, this trophy will follow, making sure that WHISPERS’ spirit meets scientific excellence.

See you in Iceland in 2010 for the GRSS premier event in the hyperspectral world!