Enhanced security framework for medical data embedding based on octonionic steganographic transforms and FPGA-accelerated integrity verification

This study suggests a novel approach that combines steganography with innovative image and signal processing techniques to enhance the security and integrity of medical images. We employ octonions, which offer a rich and high-fidelity representation, to encode two medical images. Racah orthogonal polynomials (DORPs), which extract distinctive visual properties and are thus perfect for data concealment, are added to this method to improve it further. We created a verification method utilizing the SHA-256 hashing technique to guarantee data integrity. To identify any manipulation, this method computes the steganographic image's hash both before and after transmission. We used an FPGA-based technology to improve this process, which uses parallel processing to greatly speed up hash computations compared to conventional software techniques. Discrete wavelet decomposition (DWT), quaternion singular value decomposition (QSVD) of the cover picture, and the application of octonionic transforms to concealed images are the main components of our approach. Experimental results demonstrate high-fidelity image reconstruction, with PSNR values up to 40 dB, SSIM scores reaching 0.9900, and strong robustness against various attacks. In particular, the system achieves NC ≥ 0.98 even under geometric transformations such as rotation and scaling, thanks to an integrated geometric correction module based on the Arithmetic Optimization Algorithm (AOA). The FPGA implementation ensures low-latency integrity verification, making the framework suitable for embedded healthcare environments. The proposed solution shows strong potential for protecting sensitive diagnostic data in medical systems, combining mathematical rigor with hardware-level performance.