Guest editorial: Chaos-based secure communications

Abstract

With the massive increase of wirelessly connected devices and the rapid development of the Internet, information is transmitted more and more frequently. Since the information transmissions over these networks are greatly threatened not only by the imperfection of channels but also by the potential attackers or eavesdroppers, security and reliability become some of the crucial requirements for our future networks. Due to the complex dynamic behavior, ergodicity, wide spectrum and sensitivity to initial values, chaos signals show most required attributes of good cryptosystems and great potentials in optical fiber communications for desirable spatial accuracy and distance. In this context, it has become imperative to investigate and apply chaos theories to solve emerging secure communication problems in various networks. This includes leveraging chaos systems and signals to address a wide range of secure communication challenges in optical fiber communications, chaos cipher, image encryption, etc.