Described herein are methods, apparatuses, and systems that enable a light weight autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to process hyperspectral (HSI) data during its flight and send information to the ground computer via radio-link. This capability is not currently available owing to the severe combination of technical constraints: the typical processing power required to analyze HSI data in real time the small space and power available for the payload in a light-weight UAV and the limited bandwidth available on the wireless link.