Quantum Audio Research Articles

A blind quantum audio watermarking based on quantum discrete cosine transform

As an important security technology, recently quantum watermarking attracted wide research attention. This study presents a blind quantum audio watermarking scheme based on quantum discrete cosine transform (qDCT). In the proposed scheme, the quantum audio signal in quantum representation of discrete signal (QRDS) is transformed into frequency domain using qDCT. The medium frequency components are selected as the target of watermarking. The qubits of previously scrambled watermark image are embedded in three qubits of each frequency component, and inverse qDCT is performed. The reverse process carried out to extract watermark qubits, in which majority voting policy employed to select correct watermark qubit. For every procedure of the proposed scheme, the quantum circuit and complexity analysis is presented. The novelty of the study is to embed watermark data in the medium frequency band of audio signal which is an optimal target for carrying hidden data. Furthermore, the proposed scheme employs parallel processing, the intrinsic powerful property of quantum computing, to perform embedding process efficiently and reduce quantum gates in presented quantum circuits. Based on transparency and robustness evaluation results, the proposed method demonstrated a better robustness than previous works, while keeping the same capacity, without significant change in transparency.

An enhanced LSB-based quantum audio watermarking scheme for nano communication networks

In recent years, digital multimedia including image, audio, and video are extended to quantum computation and quantum networks. Consequently, copyright protection of digital multimedia in quantum networks becomes a significant issue. As an important security technology, quantum watermarking is an appropriate solution, which embeds copyright information into the carrier signal. This work presents an enhanced least significant bit (LSB) based audio watermarking using reflected gray code. In the presented scheme, the watermark image is first scrambled using a new scrambling method presented in this paper, which modifies pixel values for scrambling instead of changing pixel positions. The scrambled image is then converted into a qubit sequence to comply with one-dimension audio signal, and the qubits are embedded into carrier quantum audio signal using an embedding key. In embedding phase, every four low qubit of target audio sample replaced with their nearest even or odd number in reflected gray code, based on the value of embedded qubit. For every procedure of the proposed scheme, the quantum circuit and complexity analysis is presented. Experimental results prove that the proposed scheme has good transparency, capacity and security.

A Novel Quantum Audio Steganography–Steganalysis Approach Using LSFQ-Based Embedding and QKNN-Based Classifier

In this paper, a steganography–steganalysis model for quantum audio signals is presented. This model consists of two separate parts of steganography and steganalysis. In the steganography part, to increase the imperceptibility and enhance the undetectability of the least significant bit method, first, the quantum host audio signal is divided into quantum frames of the specified length, and then, using the triangular number sequence, some samples of each frame are selected for the embedding operation. Finally, the embedding process is carried out within the least significant fractional qubit of the amplitude information of the selected samples. The steganalysis part also includes a quantum universal steganalyzer for detecting the embedding operations of the steganography part and a feature extraction module for calculating the power feature of quantum audio signal frames. The recognition operation is based on the quantum K-nearest neighbor algorithm and the Hamming distance criterion. All quantum circuits of the steganography and steganalysis parts of the proposed model were simulated and then tested and evaluated using different audio files. Detection accuracy of over 90% indicates the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method in quantum audio steganography detection in the context of quantum communication networks.

An LSB-Based Quantum Audio Watermarking Using MSB as Arbiter

With the extension of digital multimedia into quantum computation and quantum networks, copyright protection of digital multimedia in quantum networks becomes a significant issue. As an important security technology, quantum watermarking is an appropriate solution, which embeds copyright information into the host signal. Up to now, several methods have been proposed for quantum image watermarking, while there are a few achievements in the domain of quantum audio watermarking. This work presents a least significant qubit (LSB) based audio watermarking which employs the most significant qubit to determine the qubit position for embedding. In the proposed scheme, the watermark image is first scrambled using a new scrambling method presented in this paper. The scrambled image is then converted into a qubit sequence, and the qubits are embedded into host quantum audio signal using an embedding key. For every procedure of the proposed scheme, the quantum circuit and complexity analysis is presented. Experimental results prove that the proposed scheme is good in terms of robustness, capacity and security.

Roadmap to Talking Quantum Movies: a Contingent Inquiry

Quantum computation and quantum information science have transmuted from classroom conjectures and demonstrations usually confined to the laboratory into exciting sub-disciplines with potential for profound impacts in information and communication security, device miniaturization, cosmology, Internet, and so on. Recent developments in both areas have further changed the landscape of future computing and information processing technologies. Encouraged by this, both fields have witnessed interests from professional bodies, notably, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) via the IEEE P7130 working group on standards for quantum computation as well as similar interests from big technology companies (Google, Microsoft, IBM, etc.) as well as those from national and regional (China, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and so on) governments. With all these activities, presently, interest in and funding for quantum computation and quantum information science are at their highest points ever, thus heralding the inevitable feat of physical realization of quantum computing hardware. Considering the ubiquity and indispensability of imaging and video technologies in our lives today, it is paramount that the utility of any future computing paradigm be measured in terms of its ability to advance and guarantee perpetuity in terms of the efficacy of such technologies. Quantum image processing (QIP), a sub-discipline mainly focused on using quantum computing hardware for the attainment of the aforementioned objectives, has emerged as one of the most promising fields in the quantum computing and quantum information science domains. Its extension to realize quantum movies (or videos), which is the main subject of this disquisition, is an even newer prospect. Consequently, the main objectives of this review are twofold. First, targeting enthusiasts and beginners in the quantum computing field, the treatise provides both an essential background on the rudiments of QIP as well as an exhaustive overview of all literature related to quantum movies and/or videos. Second, for the benefit of those already pursuing research in the QIP sub-discipline, the commentary provides useful insights, allegories, and conjectures to support the integration of other media, such as quantum audio and so on, for the realization of colored talking quantum movies (or video). On the whole, the review is intended to serve as an avenue to invigorate activities tailored toward accelerating the realization of QIP-based quantum technologies.

Dual Quantum Audio Watermarking Schemes Based on Quantum Discrete Cosine Transform

The study explores the implementation of watermarking schemes for quantum audio signals based on quantum Discrete Cosine Transform (qDCT). Dual Quantum Audio Watermarking (QAW) schemes, i.e. QAW-I and QAW-II, are proposed by utilizing the property of strong energy compaction of the qDCT. The qDCT transforms the host quantum audio signal which is encoded as an FRQA (Flexible Representation for Quantum Audio) content from time to frequency domain. To retain the high imperceptibility of the dual QAW schemes, the quantum watermark is embedded into the high-frequency portions of host quantum audio signal after the qDCT operation. The circuit networks to execute the embedding and extraction procedures of QAW-I and QAW-II schemes are designed. In addition, simulation-based experiments are conducted to demonstrate their implementation and conclude their advantages in terms of imperceptibility and robustness.

Quantum Representation and Basic Operations of Digital Signals

This paper presented a quantum representation and some basic operations for one-dimensional finite length digital signal. For the representation, similar to the existing flexible representation of quantum audio (FRQA), two sets of qubits are used to represent the amplitudes and positions of the signal, respectively, wherein the amplitude is represented by an (n + 1)-bit signed number in twos complement, including one sign bit, m integer bits and n − m fractional bits. The basic operations include the addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and circular convolution of two digital signals. We designed the quantum circuits that implements these basic operations, analyzed the computational complexity, and verified the correctness of these circuits by simulations on classical computers.

Novel quantum watermarking algorithm based on improved least significant qubit modification for quantum audio**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61373131, 61303039, 61232016, and 61501247), Sichuan Youth Science and Technique Foundation, China (Grant No. 2017JQ0048), NUIST Research Foundation for Talented Scholars of China (Grant No. 2015r014), and PAPD and CICAEET Funds of China.

As one of essential multimedia in quantum networks, the copyright protection of quantum audio has gradually become an important issue in the domain of quantum information hiding in the decades. In this paper, an improved quantum watermarking algorithm based on quantum audio by using least significant qubit (LSQb) modification is proposed. Compared with the previous achievements, it can effectively improve the robustness and security of watermark for copyright protection of quantum audio. In the new algorithm, the least significant bites and the peripheral least significant bits of the amplitudes are modified in terms of their logical consistency and correlation to enhance watermark robustness of resisting various illegal attacks. Furthermore, the new algorithm can avoid the weak robustness defect of many previous algorithms that directly embedded the watermark into the least significant bits. In order to implement the new algorithm, some specific quantum circuits are designed to obtain better applicability and scalability for embedding and extracting watermark. Finally, the simulation results including the values of audio waveforms and signal to noise ratios (SNR) prove that the new algorithm has good transparency, robustness, and security.

Exploring the Implementation of Steganography Protocols on Quantum Audio Signals

Two quantum audio steganography (QAS) protocols are proposed, each of which manipulates or modifies the least significant qubit (LSQb) of the host quantum audio signal that is encoded as an FRQA (flexible representation of quantum audio) audio content. The first protocol (i.e. the conventional LSQb QAS protocol or simply the cLSQ stego protocol) is built on the exchanges between qubits encoding the quantum audio message and the LSQb of the amplitude information in the host quantum audio samples. In the second protocol, the embedding procedure to realize it implants information from a quantum audio message deep into the constraint-imposed most significant qubit (MSQb) of the host quantum audio samples, we refer to it as the pseudo MSQb QAS protocol or simply the pMSQ stego protocol. The cLSQ stego protocol is designed to guarantee high imperceptibility between the host quantum audio and its stego version, whereas the pMSQ stego protocol ensures that the resulting stego quantum audio signal is better immune to illicit tampering and copyright violations (a.k.a. robustness). Built on the circuit model of quantum computation, the circuit networks to execute the embedding and extraction algorithms of both QAS protocols are determined and simulation-based experiments are conducted to demonstrate their implementation. Outcomes attest that both protocols offer promising trade-offs in terms of imperceptibility and robustness.

QRDA: Quantum Representation of Digital Audio

Multimedia refers to content that uses a combination of different content forms. It includes two main medias: image and audio. However, by contrast with the rapid development of quantum image processing, quantum audio almost never been studied. In order to change this status, a quantum representation of digital audio (QRDA) is proposed in this paper to present quantum audio. QRDA uses two entangled qubit sequences to store the audio amplitude and time information. The two qubit sequences are both in basis state: |0〉 and |1〉. The QRDA audio preparation from initial state |0〉 is given to store an audio in quantum computers. Then some exemplary quantum audio processing operations are performed to indicate QRDA’s usability.