A Robust and Secure Watermarking Approach Based on Hermite Transform and SVD-DCT
Currently, algorithms to embed watermarks into digital images are increasing exponentially, for example in image copyright protection. However, when a watermarking algorithm is applied, the preservation of the image’s quality is of utmost importance, for example in medical images, where improper emb...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/14/8430 |
| _version_ | 1797590414856814592 |
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| author | Sandra L. Gomez-Coronel Ernesto Moya-Albor Jorge Brieva Andrés Romero-Arellano |
| author_facet | Sandra L. Gomez-Coronel Ernesto Moya-Albor Jorge Brieva Andrés Romero-Arellano |
| author_sort | Sandra L. Gomez-Coronel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Currently, algorithms to embed watermarks into digital images are increasing exponentially, for example in image copyright protection. However, when a watermarking algorithm is applied, the preservation of the image’s quality is of utmost importance, for example in medical images, where improper embedding of the watermark could change the patient’s diagnosis. On the other hand, in digital images distributed over the Internet, the owner of the images must also be protected. In this work, an imperceptible, robust, secure, and hybrid watermarking algorithm is presented for copyright protection. It is based on the Hermite Transform (HT) and the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) as a spatial–frequency representation of a grayscale image. Besides, it uses a block-based strategy and a perfectibility analysis of the best embedding regions inspired by the Human Vision System (HVS), giving the imperceptibility of the watermark, and a Singular-Value Decomposition (SVD) approach improved robustness against attacks. In addition, the proposed method can embed two watermarks, a digital binary image (LOGO) and information about the owner and the technical data of the original image in text format (MetaData). To secure both watermarks, the proposed method uses the Jigsaw Transform (JST) and the Elementary Cellular Automaton (ECA) to encrypt the image LOGO and a random sequence generator and the XOR operation to encrypt the image MetaData. On the other hand, the proposed method was tested using a public dataset of 49 grayscale images to assess the effectiveness of the watermark embedding and extraction procedures. Furthermore, the proposed watermarking algorithm was evaluated under several processing and geometric algorithms to demonstrate its robustness to the majority, intentional or unintentional, attacks, and a comparison was made with several state-of-the-art techniques. The proposed method obtained average values of PSNR = 40.2051 dB, NCC = 0.9987, SSIM = 0.9999, and MSSIM = 0.9994 for the watermarked image. In the case of the extraction of the LOGO, the proposal gave MSE = 0, PSNR ≫ 60 dB, NCC = 1, SSIM = 1, and MSSIM = 1, whereas, for the image MetaData extracted, it gave BER = 0% and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>B</mi><mrow><mi>e</mi><mi>r</mi><mi>r</mi><mi>o</mi><mi>r</mi></mrow></msub><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mo>=</mo><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mn>0</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. Finally, the proposed encryption method presented a large key space (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>K</mi><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mo>=</mo><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mn>1.2689</mn><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mo>×</mo><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><msup><mn>10</mn><mn>89</mn></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>) for the LOGO image. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:20:10Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:20:10Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-f62555ccefc04ab181e309a68c9a25432023-11-18T18:13:02ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172023-07-011314843010.3390/app13148430A Robust and Secure Watermarking Approach Based on Hermite Transform and SVD-DCTSandra L. Gomez-Coronel0Ernesto Moya-Albor1Jorge Brieva2Andrés Romero-Arellano3Instituto Politécnico Nacional, UPIITA. Av. IPN No. 2580, Col. La Laguna Ticoman, CDMX 07340, MexicoFacultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Panamericana, Augusto Rodin 498, Ciudad de México 03920, MexicoFacultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Panamericana, Augusto Rodin 498, Ciudad de México 03920, MexicoFacultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Panamericana, Augusto Rodin 498, Ciudad de México 03920, MexicoCurrently, algorithms to embed watermarks into digital images are increasing exponentially, for example in image copyright protection. However, when a watermarking algorithm is applied, the preservation of the image’s quality is of utmost importance, for example in medical images, where improper embedding of the watermark could change the patient’s diagnosis. On the other hand, in digital images distributed over the Internet, the owner of the images must also be protected. In this work, an imperceptible, robust, secure, and hybrid watermarking algorithm is presented for copyright protection. It is based on the Hermite Transform (HT) and the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) as a spatial–frequency representation of a grayscale image. Besides, it uses a block-based strategy and a perfectibility analysis of the best embedding regions inspired by the Human Vision System (HVS), giving the imperceptibility of the watermark, and a Singular-Value Decomposition (SVD) approach improved robustness against attacks. In addition, the proposed method can embed two watermarks, a digital binary image (LOGO) and information about the owner and the technical data of the original image in text format (MetaData). To secure both watermarks, the proposed method uses the Jigsaw Transform (JST) and the Elementary Cellular Automaton (ECA) to encrypt the image LOGO and a random sequence generator and the XOR operation to encrypt the image MetaData. On the other hand, the proposed method was tested using a public dataset of 49 grayscale images to assess the effectiveness of the watermark embedding and extraction procedures. Furthermore, the proposed watermarking algorithm was evaluated under several processing and geometric algorithms to demonstrate its robustness to the majority, intentional or unintentional, attacks, and a comparison was made with several state-of-the-art techniques. The proposed method obtained average values of PSNR = 40.2051 dB, NCC = 0.9987, SSIM = 0.9999, and MSSIM = 0.9994 for the watermarked image. In the case of the extraction of the LOGO, the proposal gave MSE = 0, PSNR ≫ 60 dB, NCC = 1, SSIM = 1, and MSSIM = 1, whereas, for the image MetaData extracted, it gave BER = 0% and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi>B</mi><mrow><mi>e</mi><mi>r</mi><mi>r</mi><mi>o</mi><mi>r</mi></mrow></msub><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mo>=</mo><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mn>0</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. Finally, the proposed encryption method presented a large key space (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>K</mi><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mo>=</mo><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mn>1.2689</mn><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mo>×</mo><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><msup><mn>10</mn><mn>89</mn></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>) for the LOGO image.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/14/8430digital image watermarkingdiscrete cosine transformHermite transformJigsaw transformwatermarking robustnesssingular-value decomposition |
| spellingShingle | Sandra L. Gomez-Coronel Ernesto Moya-Albor Jorge Brieva Andrés Romero-Arellano A Robust and Secure Watermarking Approach Based on Hermite Transform and SVD-DCT Applied Sciences digital image watermarking discrete cosine transform Hermite transform Jigsaw transform watermarking robustness singular-value decomposition |
| title | A Robust and Secure Watermarking Approach Based on Hermite Transform and SVD-DCT |
| title_full | A Robust and Secure Watermarking Approach Based on Hermite Transform and SVD-DCT |
| title_fullStr | A Robust and Secure Watermarking Approach Based on Hermite Transform and SVD-DCT |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Robust and Secure Watermarking Approach Based on Hermite Transform and SVD-DCT |
| title_short | A Robust and Secure Watermarking Approach Based on Hermite Transform and SVD-DCT |
| title_sort | robust and secure watermarking approach based on hermite transform and svd dct |
| topic | digital image watermarking discrete cosine transform Hermite transform Jigsaw transform watermarking robustness singular-value decomposition |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/14/8430 |
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