Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.24138/jcomss-2025-0074
Image Steganography Based on NR-Polar DCSK System over Multipath Fading Channel
Noor Dheyaa Majeed
; Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq
*
Ali Jaber Al-Askery
; Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq
Fadhil Sahib Hasan
; Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Protecting sensitive data has become an urgent
necessity in wireless communication, which predates the
emergence of Internet development, where signals transmitted
over a channel are distorted by fading, noise, attackers, and
interference, which leads to the loss of sensitive information. This
paper introduces an efficient approach for image steganography
over a wireless channel based on the New Radio (NR) polar code
with Differential Chaos Shift Keying (DCSK) modulation to
protect secret information over a Rayleigh fading model in the
presence of an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel.
The DCSK is a non-coherent detection method widely used in
broad-spectrum communications due to its high security and
effectiveness against fading. On the other hand, steganography is
one of the most essential techniques for protecting secret
information by embedding it in multimedia. In this work, the
secret images are hidden in cover stego using the Least Significant
Bits (LSB) technique. The simulation outcomes indicate that the
Bit Error Rate (BER) is improved by 8 dB gain in this design over
the AWGN channel and approximately 4 dB over the combination
channel of AWGN and Rayleigh fading. Besides that, the Peak
Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) reached 80.2750 dB at 26 dB SNR
with 32 Spread Factor (SF). This work introduces a hybrid data
protection system that consists of steganography and DCSK
techniques, where the data has effectively been retrieved by the
receiver.
Keywords
NR Polar Code; DCSK Modulation; AWGN; Rayleigh Fading; Steganography; LSB; Secret Image
Hrčak ID:
348532
URI
Publication date:
31.3.2026.
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