High Capacity Image Steganography Based on Genetic Algorithm and Wavelet Transform

This paper presents the application of wavelet transform and genetic algorithm (GA) in a novel steganography scheme. We employ a GA based mapping function to embed data in discrete wavelet transform coefficients in 4 ×4 blocks on the cover image. The optimal pixel adjustment process (OPAP) is applied after embedding the message. We utilize the frequency domain to improve the robustness of steganography and, we implement GA and OPAP to obtain an optimal mapping function to reduce the difference error between the cover and the stego-image, therefore improving the hiding capacity with low distortions. Our simulation results reveal that the novel scheme outperforms adaptive steganography technique based on wavelet transform in terms of peak signal to noise ratio and capacity, 39.94 dB and 50% respectively.

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