1) The document discusses using the SPIHT algorithm for compressing color images by first converting them from RGB to YCbCr color space and then applying wavelet transforms and SPIHT compression separately to the Y, Cb, and Cr components.
2) Simulation results using MATLAB show that SPIHT compression achieves high quality reconstruction for different bit rates and wavelet decomposition levels as measured by PSNR and MSE.
3) The SPIHT algorithm partitions wavelet coefficients into significant and insignificant sets to iteratively encode bit planes from most to least significant, allowing for embedded bitstream generation and rate control.