Architecture of image encryption hardware using two dimensional cellular automata

Abstract

As the semiconductor technology is moving towards the submicron era, the system designers try to embed complex functions from software to hardware blocks on the silicon floor. At the same time for keeping the design complexity within a feasible limit, the designers are forced to look for simple, regular, modular, cascadable and reusable building blocks for implementing various complex functions. The homogeneous structure of Cellular Automata (CA) is a right candidate to fulfill all the above objectives. In this paper we propose a hardware solution to image encryption based on two dimensional cellular automata. The method can be easily extended to embed the information in another host digital images.