International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 6, June 2015, ISSN 2348 8050

Protection Mechanism for Compressed Image over WI-MAX Using QIM

Data Hiding
Goutam Agrawal
M. Tech. Scholar, Department of Electronics
and Communication Engineering
Mahakal Institute of technology, Ujjain
(M.P.), India

Prof. Rashmi Pant

Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering
Mahakal Institute of technology, Ujjain
(M.P.), India

Abstract
Watermarking is highly demanding in recent times
for the protection of multimedia data in network
environment from illegal use of data and from the
transmission losses due to the fading. To this aim, this
dissertation proposes a protection mechanism for
discrete transform based compressed image through
error concealment (EC) without affecting the
compatibility of standard JPEG coding. In this process a
low resolution image (Image-digest) is embedded in to
host image during encoding using Quantization index
modulation. Digest image is obtained from the host
image by using half-toning technique. At the receiving
side at the decoder, these embedded images are
extracted and keep it as a reference to conceal the
transmission losses in the received image. Result shows
the significant performance improvement in visual
quality tested using WiMAX and has been compared
with the few other existing methods.
Keywords Image-digest; half-toning; watermarking;
WiMAX; Error concealment.

I. INTRODUCTION
A digital watermark is a pattern of bits inserted in to a
digital image, audio or video that identifies the file
copyright information (author, rights, etc.) The name
Watermark is derived from the faintly visible marks
imprinted on the document. The bits representing the
watermark must be scattered throughout the file in such a
way that they cannot be identified and manipulated. And
finally, digital watermark must be robust enough to survive
changes to the file its embedded in, such as being saved
using a lossy compression algorithm like JPEG. Over one
and half decades digital data hiding is used widely for
copyright protection, ownership verification [11],
authentication [12], and access control of digital media.
Recently it is also used for protection of multimedia
signals from transmission impairment due to its attribute of
robustness [5].First data hiding as an error control tool was
used by Liu and Li [6]. The scheme extracts the important
information of an image, like the DC component of each

(8X8) block, and embeds them in to host image. An EC

technique using DWT for embedding macro-block based
best neighborhood matching (BNM) information was
proposed in [7]. An EC algorithm using watermarking
where a low- resolution version of each image or video
frame is embedded into itself was proposed by Nayak in
[8].Results indicate that the use of projection onto the
convex set (POCS) together with watermarking provide
better performance than the individual one. A region of
interest (ROI) based bit stream embedding is proposed in
[9]. ROI-DCT bit stream is embedded in to the region of
background (ROB) wavelet coefficient. It is found that
previously proposed EC schemes do not use quantization
based data hiding. However, quantization index
modulation (QIM) data hiding may be an appropriate
choice [1]. Because now a days large number of image
and video data are available in DCT compressed form and
quantization is the basic step for all these lossy and QIM
watermarking operations. Hence, development of efficient
EC scheme become essential for the protection of DCT
compressed images in fading channel and draws attention
to the research community. Another reason for the choice
of DCT is the extensive study of human visual system
(HVS) in this domain is available. Moreover, EC of
compressed image through data hiding is also challenging
as the two operations are antagonistic in characteristics.
While data hiding uses very redundancy present in the host
signal to make embedding imperceptible, compression
removes the redundancy and keep no or less room for the
data insertion. This needs the choice of proper data
modulation to balance watermark payload and available
limited embedding space [1]. This paper proposes an EC
scheme for the protection of DCT compressed digital
images using digital data hiding in WiMAX wireless
channel. We have done our best in minimizing the overlap
between this work and conference paper [1].Our
contribution in this work with respect to the [1] are,
performance study of DCT compressed image in AWGN
channel and QIM compressed image in WiMAX channel.
The overall implementation is done by extracting the some
important information (Image-digest) from the original
image using half-toning technique. This is then embedded
to introduce sufficient redundancy in the transmitted
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International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 6, June 2015, ISSN 2348 8050

image. Two important concepts are integrated in

implementation to compensate one for the other. First, A
QIM base data hiding is employed in DCT compression
pipeline without affecting the compatibility of standard
JPEG coding. Second, the improved system performance
in term of fidelity of error concealed image is achieved
using M-ary data modulation. M-ary modulation, due to its
bandwidth preserving property, embeds high payload
image digest without decreasing much in image quality
[1.] Finally, Image is transmitted using BPSK modulation
in WiMAX wireless channel for the analysis of overall
system performance.

II. BASIC PRINCIPLES AND KEY FESTURES

1. M-ary Modulation:
In digital communication, M-ary modulation offers
bandwidth efficiency compared to binary transmission.
New dither generation scheme is used for efficient
implementation of M- ary QIM watermarking on
compressed data.In QIM vector X is quantized and
quantizer Q(.). The quantizer is chosen from its family
based on the message bit (m) to be embedded [28]. The
watermarked feature vector X is then given by
= + ; {0,1}
Where subscript in Q indicates a fixed quantization
step size, d (.) is the dither of imbedding watermark bit.
At the decoder, the signal X requantized using the same
family of quantizer s to determine the embedded
message bit i.e.

many of the possible ways, such as cable and

DSL.WiMAX working in the frequency band 2-11 GHz.
WiMAX uses medium access control (MAC) and
physical (PHY) layers.
The original MAC is enhanced to accommodate
multiple physicallayerSpecifications and services,
addressing the needs for different environments.It is
generally designed to work with point-to-multipoint
topology networks,with a base station controlling
independent
sectors
simultaneously.Accessand
bandwidth allocation algorithms must be able to
accommodate hundredsof terminals per channel, that
terminals may be shared by multiple endusers.
Therefore, the MAC protocol defines how and when a
base station (BS)or a subscriber station (SS) may
initiate the transmission on the channel [15] [16].
The IEEE 802.16-2004 standard defines three different
PHYs that can beused in conjunction with the MAC
layer to provide a reliable end-to-endlink. These PHY
specifications are:
A single carrier (SC) modulated air interface.
A 256-point FFT OFDM7 multiplexing scheme.
A 2048-point FFT OFDMA8 scheme [15][16].

III. PROPOSED TECHNIQUE

The proposed data hiding based EC scheme consists of

two modules, namely image encoding and image
decoding. Theencoding module basically performs
compression, watermark data embedding and symbol

encoding. On the other hand, thedecoding module does

the reverse operations i.e. symbol decoding, watermark
= arg min
{ + ()} {0,1}
{0,1}
data extraction, decompression and EC. Thedetailed
=1
block diagram of Encoding and Decoding method is
We have made assumption that the scheme uses a soft
shown in below figs.
decoder and the symbol L indicates the length of the
dither [13].
2. WIMAX:
The experience growth in the digital networks has led to
the need for new communication networks with higher
capacity. To this aim, the model for the WIMAX
system along with the suitable wireless channel
compatible to various atmospheric conditions for the
signal propagation is proposed. A wireless transmission
infrastructure that allows a fast deployment as well as
low maintenance costs. Based on the IEEE 802.16-2004
standard, WIMAX allows for an efficient use of
bandwidth in a wide frequency range, and can be used
as a lastmile solution for broadband internet access [15]
[16]. It removes the dependencies of line of sight
(LOS). It is like WMAN2 which provide wireless
broadband connectivity to fixed and portable user. The
important feature of WiMAX is that to reduce the cost
of deployment and maintenance it can be combined
with other technology to offer broadband access in

Fig.1Encoding Method

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International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 6, June 2015, ISSN 2348 8050

Step 3: Image transformation

Pixel values of each block are level shifted by
subtracting 2t_1, wheret is the number of bits required
to represent thegray level of images. Such an offset
makes certain
processings, such as numerical
overflow, arithmetic coding, context specification,etc.
simpler. In particular, this allows the compression more
efficient with absolutely no decrease in quality. DCT
isthen performed over each block [1].
Fig.2 Decoding Method
1. Image encoding process
The inputs to the encoding process are the host image
and a set of near-orthogonal dithers. The output is the
watermarkedimage. The following steps are used.
Step 1: Image digest generation
It is well known in digital watermarking that a trade-off
relationship exists among imperceptibility, robustness
and payload.In order to balance them properly the
original image signal should not be embedded into itself
to create sufficientredundancy. In other words, to
maintain the relative requirement of each property
embedding of an image digest (a compactversion of the
original image) is needed. Image digest is generated
using the following steps:
(i) The original host image (H) of size (r x r) is resized
into 1/uth of its original size. A half-toned image is
generated fromthe resized host image using Floyd
Steinberg diffusion kernel DFS [1]given by:
0 0 0
DFS = 1/16 0 7
3 5 1
Where P is the current pixel position and DFSis typically
applied on each (3X3) block of the image (H). The
resultinghalf-toned image is denoted by (W) which is of
size (r/u x r/u), where the symbol (r) denotes the
number of rows/columnsof the original image.
(ii) The half-toned image (W) is permuted to get an
image digest ( ) using a secret key (K). This causes a
spatial dispersionof the half-toned image in a noise-like
form. As the outcome of this permutation, a particular
segment/sample of imagedigest is embedded in other
part of the host signal. This effectively helps to cause
the error pixel of the host to be separatedas far as
possible from the embedded bit of the digest ( ).
Hence, EC scheme becomes more effective [1].
Step 2: Partition of blocks
Host image is now partitioned into non-overlapping
blocks of pixels with size (8 X 8). To maintain the
compatibility with the JPEG codec this size is chosen.

Step 4: Quantization and zigzag scanning of DCT

coefficients
The standard quantization table of JPEGis used to
normalize
resulting
coefficients.
Thequantized
coefficients are reordered with the zigzag pattern.
Step 5: Watermark embedding
The image digest ( ) is represented by symbol (m) and
is embedded as a watermark into the original host
image. Theembedding is done by modulating quantized
DCT coefficients using the steps as described below:
(a) Generation of near-orthogonal dithers:
Near-orthogonal dithers di, i = 0, 1. . .M, are generated
based on .The length of di is equal to the number of
coefficientsused for embedding a symbol. The value of
m indicates the number of pixel presents in the image
digest [1].
(b) Watermark bit insertion:
Before insertion of watermark bits into quantized DCT
coefficients of a block, a non-linear scaling is done on
the quantizedcoefficients. The operation is necessary to
increase fidelity of the watermarked image. Then bits of
image digest ( ) areembedded in a block . The nonzero AC coefficients of a block are divided into two
non-overlapping sets. Two symbols/message (m) are
embedded into quantized DCT coefficients by
modulating one set of coefficients for each type of
symbol [1].
Step 6: Symbol coding
Embedded data are now encoded using Huffman code
for efficient representation of bit sequence.
Step 7: PSK modulation for transmission through
WiMAX wireless channel
Now for the transmission through wireless WiMAX
channel bit sequence is processed using PSK
modulation.
In WiMAX first of all, 256 X 256 image input with 96
samples per frame for image and 30138 samples with
1/35 sample time for the process of frame based speech
output are taken. Once the data is received in the terms
of either speech or image, the randomization would be
performed which will be applied for the encoding. The
encoder is the combination of Reed-Solomn (RS) code
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International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 6, June 2015, ISSN 2348 8050

as an outer code and Convolution code (CC) as an inner

code. The encoded data is modulated by means of
OFDM process, the in phase and quadrature phase
components of the symbols will undergo through the
process of IFFT so that the requirement of effective
bandwidth can be made approximately half without any
inter symbol interference [14].
2. Image decoding process
The decoding process is just reverse to that of encoding
process. Inputs are the received modulated compressed
Huffmanbit sequence and the sets of near-orthogonal
dithers used at the time of embedding.

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS AND

DISCUSSION
The system simulation provide results for two cases for
real time image input as shown in figure (a)below. All
of the test images are of size (256 X 256), 8-bit/pixel
gray scale image.
The present study uses peak-signal-to-noise-ratio
(PSNR (dB)), Root-mean-square error (RMSE) and Bit
error rate (BER)as distortion measures for the QIM
compressedimage (under inspection) with respect to
theoriginal one.

c) Received Digest and Original image for QIM

WiMAX Model for SNR = 6.
Table-1
Name of
BER
PSNR(dB)
RMSE
Image
CAR
0.00637
15.9057
40.8561
BER, PSNR and RMSE values for QIM WiMAX
Model
In this case values of BER, PSNR and RMSE is
calculated for the SNR value =6.In this work QIM
compressed image is transmitted using WiMAX
channel.
Case-II QIM compressed image using AWGN
channel

d) DCT and Embedded image component results for

QIM AWGN Model
a) Original Input and digest Image of CAR for QIM
WiMAX Model
Case-I QIM compressed image using WiMAX
channel

b) DCT and Embedded image component results for

QIM WiMAX Model

e) Received Digest and Original image for QIM AWGN

Model for SNR = 6.
Table-2
Name of
BER
PSNR(dB)
RMSE
Image
CAR
0.0023
15.012
45.2801
BER, PSNR and RMSE values for QIM AWGN Model
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International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 6, June 2015, ISSN 2348 8050

In this case values of BER, PSNR and RMSE is

calculated for the SNR value =6. In this work QIM
compressed image is transmitted using AWGN channel.

V. CONCLUSION
In Proposed protection mechanism for discrete cosine
transform based compressed image through data hiding
without affecting the compatibility of standard JPEG
coding using WiMAX and AWGN channel it is seen
that proposed Error Concealment is effective for the
transmission using WiMAX channel. Results also show
that the proposed scheme provides significant
improvement on visual quality in terms of PSNR and
RMSE values.

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