2019 2nd International Conference on Communication Engineering and Technology
End-to-End Voice Encryption Based on Multiple Circular Chaotic Permutation
Nur Hayati
Department of Electrical Engineering
Universitas Indonesia
Depok, Indonesia
e-mail: nur.hayati81@ui.ac.id
Kalamullah Ramli
Department of Electrical Engineering
Universitas Indonesia
Depok, Indonesia
e-mail: kalamullah.ramli@ui.ac.id
Abstract—Voice communication is an important need in daily
activities whether delivered with or without technology.
Telecommunication technology has accommodated this need
by providing a wide range of infrastructure, including large
varieties of devices used as intermediary and end devices. One
of the cellular technologies that is very widely used by the
public is GSM (Global System for Mobile), while in the
military, trunked radio is still popular. However, the security
systems of GSM and trunked radio have limitations. Therefore,
this paper proposes a platform to secure voice data over
wireless mobile communication by providing end-to-end
encryption. This platform is robust to noise, real-time and
remains secure. The proposed encryption utilizes multicircular
permutations rotated by expanded keys as dynamic keys to
scramble the data. We carry out simulations and testbed
implementation to prove that application of the proposed
method is feasible.
Keywords-voice encryption; chaotic algorithm; GSM network;
trunked radio; multiple circular
I. INTRODUCTION
Voice communication is a basic need in the delivery of
information, whether through the use of technology or
through direct interaction. In the modern era,
telecommunication technology has accommodated this need
by providing a wide range of infrastructure, including large
varieties of devices used as intermediary and end devices.
One of the cellular technologies that is very widely used by
the public is GSM (Global System for Mobile). GSM
technology is growing rapidly in every country, so that both
the public and high-ranking state officials utilize this facility,
both within their own countries and when using roaming in a
foreign country. However, despite this technological
progress, GSM has security limitations [1] [2] [3] [4].
Security developed in GSM technology has a medium
scale [5] so that, for confidential communication, one
additional feature is needed to secure information that is on a
GSM network. Therefore, this paper proposes end-to-end
978-1-7281-1439-2/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
Yohan Suryanto
Department of Electrical Engineering
Universitas Indonesia
Depok, Indonesia
e-mail: yohan.suryanto@ui.ac.id
Muhammad Suryanegara
Department of Electrical Engineering
Universitas Indonesia
Depok, Indonesia
e-mail: suryanegara@gmail.com
encryption as a method of improving security. The end-to-
end encryption is used for protecting confidentiality of voice
data transmitted over a GSM network. Although militaries
usually have their own secret channels for sharing
information over trunked radio but end to end encryption
help them to enhance the security level. The advantage of
end-to-end encryption is that only senders and receivers are
expected to be able to obtain valid information. It means that
even though the information is tapped in the middle, an
outsider unable to translate the contents of the information
because the algorithm and the key for decrypting the data are
specifically known by trusted parties. Therefore, this
proposed platform would be very useful to be implemented
at the military communication system.
II. CHAOTIC ENCRYPTION FOR VOICE OVER WIRELESS
RADIO
GSM / 2G / 3G network encryption is mostly
implemented close to mobile device and base station. Voice
encryption in 2G / 3G GSM networks uses COMP128, with
algorithms A3, A8 and A5, which can be solved in less than
two hours [6]. Meanwhile, cellular operators can intercept
and store the voice communication logs of customers. The
end-to-end framework for voice encryption over GSM
networks can be done by converting voice into digital form,
which is then compressed into a low bit rate format, then
encrypted and sent via a special modem or packet switch
data services such as GPRS [7]or a circuit switch data
service [8]. The challenge in encrypting voice
communication through GSM / 2G / 3G cellular networks is
how to encrypt, despite the limitations of GSM / 2G / 3G
network bandwidth, the large variety of devices used, the
number of cellular operators involved, and the number of
operating systems used by smartphones. In terms of
bandwidth limitations that can be passed, GSM networks
even only pass voice frequencies with a range of less than
3400 Hz or data with low rates of less than 6.5 kbps [9].
Encryption research continues to evolve and is leading to
improvements in security aspects, resistance to interference,
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and the speed of the encoding process. There is a need for a
very secure encryption method with key space that is high
enough and can be used independently of the types of
devices, applications, and codecs in real time. The
encryption used must also be robust because public networks
based on wireless with high frequency reuse sometimes
experience interference. One encoding technique that can
meet the above requirements is encoding based on chaotic
maps. To respond to the need for a large key space and
process speed, and at the same time robustness towards noise,
in our previous research we proposed a multicircular chaotic
permutation method that is smaller and enlarged. Chaotic
Permutation Multicircular Shrinking Movement (CPMCSM)
and Chaotic Permutation Multicircular Expanding
Movement (CPMCEM) are encryption bases that have very
large key spaces, fulfill chaotic properties [10], and are very
safe to apply to image encryption[11]. Thus, we decide to try
to implement it in voice. The proposed encryption method
has a very large key space, far greater than the existing
chaotic map [12]. Chaotic Permutation Multiple Circular is a
permutation that can fulfill all possible permutations for N
elements. It is possible for an element to be chosen to occupy
the first position in a permutation. The permutation
multicircular method consists of a pair of methods, namely
Chaotic Permutation Multicircular Shrinking and Expanding,
each of which is the reverse process of the other. Each
permutation stage, involving a number of elements that get
smaller, differs by one element from the previous stage. To
get the original set of elements from the elements
randomized using the shrinking method, one needs to do a
permutation with multicircular expanding, which is
controlled by the same key series. In contrast with shrinking,
the number of elements involved in each round of expanding
is growing.
III. METHODOLOGY
This research proposes an end-to-end voice encryption
over wireless communication platform. The method is
indicated to produce robust encryption against noise while
remaining secure and is designed to be adaptable to various
types of mobile devices technology independently. The
overall design of the encryption system is shown in Figure 1.
The proposed encryption utilizes multicircular permutation
to randomize the voice signals transmitted over wireless
radio. Encryption and decryption algorithms are installed on
hardware separate from mobile devices. The proposed
hardware is called an Encryption Decryption Device (EDD)
and is attached on mobile devices. In this research, EDD
input consists of voice data with Indonesian phonetics
published by [13].
The design of our proposed platform that will be installed
in EDD is displayed in Figure 2. This design has three main
functions: Analog to Digital Converter (ADC), encryption or
decryption, and Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). The
encryption system is applied in digital form. Encryption and
decryption are executed utilizing a digital dynamic complex
permutation module rotated by set of expanded keys. At the
sender or transmitter, EDD encrypts the voice using
permutation multicircular shrinking. While at the receiver,
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the encrypted voice would be decrypted with permutation
multicircular expanding. The direction of the shift in
permutations, both shrinking and expanding, is determined
by the value of the expanded key [11].
Figure 1. Topology diagram system.
Figure 2. The design of end to end encryption decryption.
A permutation technique was chosen as a method for
randomizing voice because it keeps the value of mutated
elements constant, thus it is resistant to interference. The
multicircular permutation technique is used for proposing
this methodology as it is robust to noise with a very large key
space and its key is an unconditional integer number.
Therefore, we assumed that this method would be suitable
for securing voice transmitted over wireless media. To
strengthen the security mechanism, we use expanded keys to
determine the direction of rotation, which is intended to
make randomization in the encryption process dynamic. This
dynamic permutation uses a different sequence of keys for
each encryption process, so that encrypted data is more
resistant against known attacks.
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
We tried two scenarios, namely simulation and test bed
implementation, to ensure that implementation of the
proposed system is feasible. The result of each scenario is
analyzed and discussed.
A. Simulation of End-to-End Voice Encryption Decryption
The first scenario is simulation conducted in
mathematical programming software running on Lenovo
IdeaPad S210. We simulate the encryption and decryption
process without involving communication media. This is
intended to ensure that the proposed algorithm can be
realized in the form of software. The parameters used for the
simulation are shown in Table 1.
Aligning the simulation results, we obtain the plotting of
voice signal data in various conditions. Figure 3 (a) is the
original form of a voice signal which is a * .wav file before
processing. Voice data is sampled with a sampling rate of
16000 Hz. The number of sampled data voice is 124418 and
is divided into 486 blocks, with each block consisting of 256
bits. Figure 3 (b) is a plotting of expanded keys which
determine the position of the voice data index. In the
proposed method, the data in each block is given an index TABLE I. THE SIMULATION PARAMETERS
ranging from 0 to 255. Then the data is permuted with the Parameter Value/Data
direction of the shifting position according to the value of the
Frequency sampling 16000 Hz
expanded key. Thus, the expanded key has a significant
impact on determining the change of the voice position index. Encryption block size 256
In the simulation, the expanded key is still entered manually. Voice source Indonesian phonetics [13]
So, if users enter the expanded key value randomly, the Encryption-Decryption Permutation multiple circular
permutation would rotate dynamically, and this is useful for method shrinking and expanding [11]
increasing security. Key generator Expanded key stream [11]

Figure 3. Simulation results: (a) Original Signal (b) Expanded Key (c) CPMS Signal
(d) CPME Signal (e) Encrypted Signal (f) Decrypted Signal

Figure 3 (c) and (d) sequentially is a form of a chaotic
permutation multicircular shrinking signal during the
encryption process and a chaotic permutation multicircular
expanding signal in the decryption process. The image shows
randomness of changes in location in each index of voice
data in one block. Figure 3 (e) plots the encryption signal or
the result of processing from the original voice signal after
being mutated with a multicircular method that is
randomized according to the input expanded key entered by
the user. Figure 3 (f) plots decrypted signals using
permutations that are in the opposite direction to the
encryption process. Seen in Figure 3 (a), (e) and (f), the
simulation results show the similarity of the signal form at
the time of the original voice, already encrypted and
decrypted. But when the voice is heard, the encrypted voice
will be very different from the other two voices. This

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indicates that encryption was successfully performed. Then
when we compare the original voice with the voice of the
decryption, there is no change in the voice. This shows that
there is no change in the data encryption and decryption
processes. However, the result between simulation and
implementation of the test bed show different value. There is
a difference between the original voice and the decrypted
voice that is influenced by the hardware and software on the
testing device.
(a)
(b)
Figure 4. Simulation Results: (a) Encryption Time (b) Decryption Time
In the next simulation we analyze the time used for
processing encryption and decryption. We consider the time
because in the encryption and decryption process, time is
correlated with speed, which is an important factor in real-
time communication. The simulation results show that the
time used for encryption all samples block is 0.65 seconds
and the total decryption time for all blocks is 1.23 seconds.
The average time needed to encrypt one block of data is
1.39ms and the average time required to decrypt 1.8 times
higher namely 2.51 ms. A graph of the encryption and
decryption time of each block is shown in Figure 4.
Based on the simulation results, if we use a GSM
standard that has higher compression and a more
sophisticated modulation technique, the encryption value per
block can be said to be very good. This is because GSM
imposes a maximum delay end to end on existing GSM
networks of ≤ 90 ms, while the standard QoS delay for end-
to-end voice data communication is ≤150 ms. From the data,
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if we want to meet the QoS standard, there is still a
remaining time of 60 ms which is used to encrypt and
decrypt. If divided equally, then 30 ms for encryption is
divided into ADC, encryption and DAC processes, each ≤
10 ms; the same applies on the decryption side. This
calculation shows that the proposed per-block encryption
method is able to meet end-to-end real-time data encryption
standards.
B. Testbed Implementation of Encryption and Decryption
The implementation of the proposed method was also
carried out by doing testing on two trunked radio units, each
of a different brand. We used trunked radio units instead of
mobile phones because we tried to use a less complex
devices system. This testbed is intended to show that
encryption is independent of the device or is universal so that
it can work on multi-vendor devices. However, in order to
simulate the EDD we used a laptop. The laptop on the
transmitter side runs ADC, encryption and DAC functions,
while on the receiver side, it runs ADC, decryption, and
DAC. The testbed specifications are shown in Table 2,
while the testbed topology is indicated in Figure 5.
TABLE II. THE PARAMETERS OF TESTBED IMPLEMENTATION
Parameter Value/Data
Software Specification
Frequency sampling 16000 Hz
Encryption block size 256
Voice source Indonesian phonetics [13]
Encryption Decryption Permutation multicircular
method shrinking and expanding
[11]
Key generator Expanded key [11]
Hardware specifications
Trunked Radio Transmitter Icon MDC 1200
Trunked Radio Receiver HYT TC 700
EDD at Transmitter Lenovo IdeaPad S210
EDD at Receiver Asus
The test bed test results show that the decrypted voice
that has been transmitted through a trunked device has
decreased in quality. The voice heard on the receiver side is
not as clear as when on the transmitter side. This can be seen
from the plotting of Figures 6 (a) and (b) showing a similar
signal pattern while Figure 6 (c) there is a slight difference in
the certain part.
Based on the results of experiment, there is a problem
arise during the implementation. It is how to determine the
precision of the encrypted data exactly as the data is
decrypted after passing through a series of processes. The
ideal condition is when the data has been encrypted and then
sent to the trunked radio transmitter and decrypted – then the
voice should not change at all. However, the testing proved
that after passing through EDD, the data returned to the
analog form, which then passed the modulation process on
analog trunked radio, and if the trunked radio was used
digitally, the data would go through the process of
compression and decompression. The data is then
transmitted through the media. When received on the data
receiver device in demodulated form, an analog signal is sent
to EDD for decryption. So, when it comes to EDD on the
receiver side, it is necessary to ensure that there is no change
in the data at all. Because even if there is only one „bit‟ of
data changes, the decryption process will produce an
inappropriate voice.
(a)
(b)
Figure 5. Testbed Scenario: (a) Topology System and (b) Capture of
Testbed Implementation
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 6. Testbed Result: Plotting signal: (a) Original Voice (b) Encrypted
signal at Transmitter (b) Decrypted Signal Receiver.
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V. CONCLUSION
This research proposed an end-to-end voice encryption
method proven by simulations and test bed implementation
run over trunked radio devices. The simulation results show
that the average time needed to encrypt voice data per block
is 1.39 ms with a block size of 256 bits, whereas the
decryption time is slightly larger, 2.52 ms. This value is very
small compared to the delay of standard QoS for end-to-end
encryption of voice data, namely 150 ms. The results of the
testbed indicate that implementation of the proposed method
is feasible in software and hardware. The proposed system
shows its ability to be applied in a universal way and
independent of trunked radio devices. Therefore, our next
research project will seek to develop a prototype of the
proposed system and implement it in mobile phones, which
have a more complex system.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research publication is funded by PIT9 Universitas
Indonesia. Ms Hayati is in PhD study supported by Beasiswa
Unggulan Dosen Indonesia Dalam Negeri (BUDI-DN),
Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP), Cooperation
between Ministry of Research and Higher Education and
Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia.
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color scrambling based on chaotic permutation multiple circular

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