OCML-based colour image encryption

The chaos-based cryptographic algorithms have suggested some new ways to develop efficient image-encryption schemes. While most of these schemes are based on low-dimensional chaotic maps, it has been proposed recently to use high-dimensional chaos namely spatiotemporal chaos, which is modelled by one-way coupled-map lattices (OCML). Owing to their hyperchaotic behaviour, such systems are assumed to enhance the cryptosystem security. In this paper, we propose an OCML-based colour image encryption scheme with a stream cipher structure. We use a 192-bit-long external key to generate the initial conditions and the parameters of the OCML. We have made several tests to check the security of the proposed cryptosystem namely, statistical tests including histogram analysis, calculus of the correlation coefficients of adjacent pixels, security test against differential attack including calculus of the number of pixel change rate (NPCR) and unified average changing intensity (UACI), and entropy calculus. The cryptosystem speed is analyzed and tested as well.