A robust color image encryption scheme with complex whirl wind spiral chaotic system and quadrant-wise pixel permutation

Abstract This paper presents a novel encryption technique that uses a unique chaotic circuit design called as 3D Complex Whirl Wind Spiral chaotic system (CWWS). The major goal of this novel approach is to create an efficient 3D chaotic systems with increased randomness and multistability, specifically designed to encrypt multimedia data. The design incorporates the sine function sin(x) to introduce complexity and unpredictability in the chaotic circuit. The dynamic behaviour of the proposed scheme’s chaotic system is thoroughly evaluated using a variety of analyses, including KY dimension, dissipativity, Lyapunov exponent spectra, and bifurcation diagrams. There are two key stages to the encryption process: diffusion and confusion. The diffusion process is strengthened by the smooth integration of quadrant-wise pixel permutation (QWPP) algorithms, which eliminate correlations between neighbouring pixels. Following that, the image components are concealed using the chaotic sequence that was generated from the 3D CWWS chaotic system. The complete encrypted image is then created by combining these encrypted components. The simulation results of the proposed strategy are thoroughly investigated using statistical analysis, differential analysis, and brute force attacks. The system has optimal key space, entropy, UACI, and NPCR metric values of 2 400 , 7.99, 0.334, and 0.996, respectively. Furthermore, the experimental findings show robust resistance to statistical, differential, and brute force attacks for a single round of iteration.