Color-image encryption scheme based on channel fusion and spherical diffraction

A secure encryption scheme for color images based on channel fusion and spherical diffraction is proposed in this paper. In the proposed encryption scheme, a channel fusion technology based on the discrete wavelet transformation is used to transform color images into single-channel grayscale images, firstly. In the process of transformation, the hyperchaotic system is used to permutation and diffuse the information of RGB channels to reduce the correlation of channels. Then the fused image is encrypted by spherical diffraction transform. Finally, the complex-valued diffraction result is decomposed into two real parts by the improved equal module decomposition, which are the ciphertext and the private key, respectively. Compared with the traditional color image encryption schemes that encrypt RGB channels separately, the proposed scheme is highly secure and robust.