A coding layer robust reversible watermarking algorithm for digital image in multi-antenna system

Abstract

Although existing robust reversible watermarking (RRW) schemes are robust to image processing attacks, they do not consider the effect of noise on the encoded digital images when they are transmitted in the wireless channel. In this paper, we propose a coding layer robust reversible watermarking (CL-RRW) algorithm for digital images in multi-antenna system. Through the specially designed preprocessing steps for the encoded carrier image and the embedding method of secret information, the scheme makes full use of the error correction capability of channel coding, and makes the impact of the embedding of secret information on the carrier approximate to natural noise. We analyse the proposed scheme based on multi-antenna systems and Rayleigh fading channels, which can simulate more realistic wireless communication scenarios. The analysis shows that in this scenario, the embedding capacity (EC) can reach the upper bound more quickly as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) increases. Within the deduced EC, the difference in peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) between the original and stego images does not exceed 10%. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is entirely resistant to image processing attacks, while enabling the receiver to obtain high-quality carrier images and low bit error rate (BER) secret information.