A fast image encryption system based on chaotic maps with finite precision representation

In this paper, a fast chaos-based image encryption system with stream cipher structure is proposed. In order to achieve a fast throughput and facilitate hardware realization, 32-bit precision representation with fixed point arithmetic is assumed. The major core of the encryption system is a pseudo-random keystream generator based on a cascade of chaotic maps, serving the purpose of sequence generation and random mixing. Unlike the other existing chaos-based pseudo-random number generators, the proposed keystream generator not only achieves a very fast throughput, but also passes the statistical tests of up-to-date test suite even under quantization. The overall design of the image encryption system is to be explained while detail cryptanalysis is given and compared with some existing schemes. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.