The PARISS® Hyperspectral Imaging System Multispectral Imaging (MSI): Typically use an electronic filter such as a Liquid Crystal Tunable Filter (LCTF), an interferometer, or an Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF) to acquire a low number of non- contiguous Wavelength Data Points (WDP).  This data is rarely of “spectroscopic” quality.  MSI wavelength data is acquired sequentially, therefore, the field of view (FOV) must be rigidly fixed.  View the animation movie below Hyperspectral Imaging instruments (HSI): Uses a wavelength dispersive element such as a diffraction grating or prism to acquire many hundreds of WDP simultaneously.  Data is usually of spectroscopic quality.  HSI instruments accommodate a changing FOV. The figures below illustrate that LCTF and AOTF devices used as the electronic filters for Multispectral imaging are low resolution, with low light transmission characteristics.  They work well for high signal-to-noise ratio samples where a “few” wavelength data points are all that are required to characterize a FOV.  1: Approaches to Spectral Imaging Hardware, Lerner JM, Gat N, Wachman E., Current Protocols in Cytometry 12.20.1-12.20.40, July 2010 Multispectral Imaging Compared to Hyperspectral Imaging      (1) Play the animation to see how Multispectral systems work, Play the animation to see how  Hyperspectral systems work Copyright © LightForm Inc, 2011