Vol. 53, Issue 2, pp. 261-280

Abstract

A robust dual color images watermarking algorithm is designed based on quaternion discrete fractional angular transform (QDFrAT) and genetic algorithm. To guarantee the watermark security, the original color watermark image is encrypted with a 4D hyperchaotic system. A pure quaternion matrix is acquired by performing the discrete wavelet transform (DWT), the block division and the discrete cosine transform on the original color cover image. The quaternion matrix is operated by the QDFrAT to improve the robustness and the security of the watermarking scheme with the optimal transform angle and the fractional order. Then the singular value matrix is obtained by the quaternion singular value decomposition (QSVD) to further enhance the scheme’s stability. The encryption watermark is also processed by DWT and QSVD. Afterward, the singular value matrix of the encryption watermark is embedded into the singular value matrix of the host image by the optimal scaling factor. Moreover, the values to balance imperceptibility and robustness are optimized with a genetic algorithm. It is shown that the proposed color image watermarking scheme performs well in imperceptibility, security, robustness and embedding capacity.