Secure communication systems based on the synchronization of chaotic systems

Abstract

Over the last three decades, chaotic dynamical systems have found many applications in science and engineering particularly in the field of secure communications and data encryption. The vast majority of such applications start from the synchronization control of two chaotic systems where one system’s states are forced to follow the exact same trajectory set out by another system with different initial conditions. The general theme seems to be that a master system is placed at the transmitter and a slave at the receiver. Once the pair is synchronized, the states can be used to secure the communication channel in one of four ways: chaotic modulation schemes, chaotic multi–carrier schemes, chaotic multiple access schemes, and chaos–based encryption schemes. This chapter aims to give an overview of secure communications and chaos and summarize the latest advancements in the field of chaos based communications. In addition, a case study is selected assuming antipodal chaos shift keying (ACSK) modulation and the complete communication system is described. Simulation results are presented to highlight the performance of chaotic modulation systems.