FPGA Realization of Medical Image Watermarking

Abstract

Digital information, being discrete in nature, possesses the capability to transfer more information at a faster rate with a significantly higher processing ease, all of which are in sharp contrast to analogue information. This has led to digital information being at the forefront of different types of media like image, video and audio. The only drawback of this has been the rise of copyright infringement issues, whereby the original owner becomes devoid of his claim over his uniquely designed creation because of duplicity and tampering by malicious users. Digital watermarking is a well sought out solution to this. The original user deliberately implants a distinctively identifiable impression onto the digital media for preventing copyright violation. The authors over here have focused on the specific domain of Medical Image Watermarking. Medical images like X-rays, USG, and MRI have revolutionized the medication fraternity by providing enhanced diagnosis and treatment of patients. But at the same time, copyright infringement of the medical images is a growing concern. To curb this problem, a notion of creating a binary masked image in comparison to the original medical image has been suggested. The mask helps in specifically identifying the region of interest (ROI)wherein the encrypted watermark has to be implanted for better imperceptibility and security. The encrypted watermark is embedded in the spatial domain, that is, the Least Significant Bit (LSB)of image pixels are modified in accordance to the watermarking bits. For a widespread acceptance of the proposed technique, the embedding and extracting methodologies have been implemented using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The imperceptibility, security and bit hiding capacity results are appreciably substantial. Further, a comparison of the suggested technique against some already relevant cutting edge techniques guarantees the superiority of the proposed technique.