27 May 2002

Physics Letters A 298 (2002) 35–40

www.elsevier.com/locate/pla

Communication through chaotic map systems

P. García a,∗ , J. Jiménez b
a Departamento de Física Aplicada, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela
b Laboratorio de Fenómenos No Lineales, Escuela de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, A.P. 48110,
Caracas, 1041-A, Venezuela
Received 18 December 2001; received in revised form 18 December 2001; accepted 1 April 2002
Communicated by A.R. Bishop

Abstract
A common feature in the most recent developments of chaos-based communication systems is the use of a single dynamical
rule through the encoding–decoding process. Regarding security, this fact could make the system vulnerable to systematic
attack from cryptanalists. In this Letter we introduce a communication system based on the symbolic dynamics of a set of
chaotic systems instead of a single one and investigate in what extent this increases security.  2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All
rights reserved.
PACS: 05.45.Vx

Keywords: Communications; Chaotic systems; Symbolic dynamics

1. Introduction Either if we are interested in language modeling

The use of chaotic systems as sources of infor-
mation and their application in communication is an
area of fast growth and considerable practical in-
terest. Among other reasons, chaotic systems have
proven their efficiency for encoding–decoding proce-
dures [1–4] and the language modeling [5,6].
Intrinsic features of chaotic systems such as the
strong sensitivity to initial conditions prevent these
systems from repeating long segments of their past tra-
jectories. The orbits of the system are obligated to con-
stantly visit new regions on the attractor, generating
new sequences of values in this way.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: pedro@apollo.ciens.ucv.ve (P. García).
0375-9601/02/$ – see front matter  2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 7 5 - 9 6 0 1 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 8 2 - 1
or in the design of encoding–decoding strategies, the
task begins by assigning to each of this values of a tra-
jectory a symbol from an alphabet with a finite num-
ber of elements. In order to achieve this, the attrac-
tor is divided into a number of regions equal to the
number of elements in the alphabet. The symbols are
subsequently assigned in agreement with the region in
which the value falls.
Thus, through this partition, some of the sequences
of values generated by the system can be associated,
for example, to the words in a specific text.
In this way, we can obtain a model for the language
used to write the text, that is, a dynamical rule that
generate the words in that language.
On the other hand, if the text is to be transmitted se-
cretively then we have several alternatives to do this.
For example, in [2], each subsequence of the text is en-
36 P. García, J. Jiménez / Physics Letters A 298 (2002) 35–40
crypted by codifying it as the initial value from which
the system generates the subsequence. Another idea
proposed by Baptista in [3] suggests to encrypt the
subsequence as the number of iterations required by
the system to generate the subsequence from a given
initial condition. In other works [7,8], the encoding
process is achieved by using the fact that the chaotic
orbits can be controlled by using small perturbations.
In this case, the system is perturbed in such way that
its symbolic dynamics generates the subsequences of
the message.
A common feature in the above and other method-
ologies is the use of a single dynamical system in
the ciphering process [1–8], so although this selection
simplifies the procedure, it also creates restrictions and
makes the encoding–decoding system vulnerable to at-
tacks from unauthorized interceptors [10–15]. In addi-
tion, it seems naive to expect the modeling a language
using only one dynamical system. With these motiva-
tions, in the present Letter we show some results ob-
tained when a family of chaotic systems is involved
in the process of encoding–decoding. Specifically, we
analyze the security level of the scheme against unau-
thorized interceptors.
Each element of our family of chaotic systems
depends on three independent parameters that can be
always chosen in a manner that there are no forbidden
transitions in the generation of symbols. Each map
is entrusted the ciphering–deciphering of a part of
the message, which is assigned by means of a secret
key.
In Section 2 we describe a method to represent the
trajectories of chaotic dynamical systems through se-
quences of symbols and, conversely, we show a proce-
dure to associate a real number to a chain of symbols.
In Section 3 we report a scheme for the construction
of a cipher–decipher system based on the symbolic dy-
namics of a family of piecewise linear chaotic transfor-
mations. Section 4 presents the main results which are
related to security and, finally, in Section 5 we present
some concluding remarks.
2. Symbolic dynamic of chaotic systems
Random-like oscillations in deterministic systems
described by nonlinear differential or difference equa-
tions are called chaos.
A way to represent the trajectories of a system
evolving under this regime consists in recording the
coordinates of the points visited by the orbit in its
phase space at each instant of time. Alternatively, by
choosing a suitable discretization of the attractor, tra-
jectories can be represented by sequences of sym-
bols [9]. This discretization consists in dividing the at-
tractor in a finite number of regions and assigning to
each region a symbol from some alphabet. Then it is
possible to assign to each point visited by the orbit the
symbol associated to the region where the point lies.
This procedure allows us to go from an orbit consist-
ing of a sequence represented by infinitely many sym-
bols to another orbit represented just by a few symbols.
This symbolic representation results in a loss of many
details about the dynamics; however, some essential
features are kept, for example, the aperiodic character
shown by the chaotic orbit is preserved by its symbolic
representation.
In our case, we are interested in a family of chaotic
systems whose symbolic dynamic can generate words
from any written message.
Without loss of generality, any of message written
using symbols from any alphabet can be rewritten in
binary form. In order to generate this binary message
we choose a priori a map whose symbolic dynamics
allows all the possible first-order transitions. By allow-
ing this, the pairs 00, 01, 10 and 11 that are generated
by the dynamics can be represented by the new sym-
bols q1 , q2 , q3 and q4 . The admission of any first-order
transition in the new symbols makes transitions of or-
der greater than one possible in the binary chain.
We choose particular map in agreement with these
features and possessing a very simple structure is a
piecewise linear map f : I → I , given by

 f1 (xn ) if xn ∈ I1 ,

f2 (xn ) if xn ∈ I2 ,
xn+1 = (1)

 f3 (xn ) if xn ∈ I3 ,
f4 (xn ) if xn ∈ I4 ,

where fi (xn ) = pi xn − si and 4i=1 Ii = [0, 1]. Here
I1 , I2 and I3 represent the independent parameters and
since fi (Ii ) = I , pi and si can be calculated from {Ii },
using
1 
i
pi = , si = 1 − pi Ii . (2)
Ii
n=1
 P. García, J. Jiménez / Physics Letters A 298 (2002) 35–40 37

the chain. To do this, we begin by defining Hn and Tn

as

 p1 if xn ∈ I1 ,

p2 if xn ∈ I2 ,
Hn = (4)
 p3 if xn ∈ I3 ,

p4 if xn ∈ I4 ,

 s1 if σn ∈ q1 ,

s2 if σn ∈ q2 ,
Tn = (5)
 s3 if σn ∈ q3 ,

s4 if σn ∈ q4 ,
and rewriting Eq. (1) as
xn+1 = Hn xn − Tn . (6)
At this point, using a discretization of the interval
(0, 1), we can achieve a scan over the values of xn
and iterate (6) until the desired sequence is generated.
Nevertheless, the high sensitivity to variations in the
Fig. 1. Piecewise linear chaotic map. In the graph, each intersection
between branches of the dynamical system and the vertical dotted
initial conditions presented by chaotic systems would
line generates a real number that is represented by a symbol require a too high scanning resolution. On the other
associated to this particular branch. hand, the inverse of (1) (f −1 ) is a contracting function,
given by
As it has already been mentioned, a symbolic xn+1 Tn
representation of the trajectories of systems such as xn = + . (7)
Hn Hn
(1) can be obtained by dividing the phase space into
Taking t successive iterations of (7) results in
a finite number of regions (I1 , I2 , I3 , I4 in this case)
and labeling each region by a symbol from an alphabet t −1
 Tn+i xn+t
A = {q1 , q2 , q3 , q4 }. xn = + , (8)
P (i) P (t)
Given the partition {Ii } and the set {qi }, the sym- i=0
bolic representation will be obtained replacing each with P (i) defined by
number xn by the label of the interval into which it

i
fall, i.e., xn → σn , where P (i) ≡ Hn+m . (9)

 q1 if xn ∈ I1 , m=0

q2 if xn ∈ I2 , This backward iteration results equivalent to iterating
σn = (3)
 q3 if xn ∈ I3 ,
 the inverse function of (1) from xn+t to xn , but
q4 if xn ∈ I4 . because it is a multivalued function, the backward
In this form, every set {xn } will become a sequence iteration is guided by the sequence of symbols σn ,
of symbols {σn }. This is illustrated in Fig. 1. Once σn+1 , . . . , σt −1 , i.e., the elements of the sequence (σi )
we have obtained the symbolic representation of the indicate the branch of the dynamical system to be
orbit and given a word of the message that we want used.
to transmit secretively, there are several options to Due to the contraction of f −1 , and for t large
achieve the encrypt. First, we can let the system evolve enough, sum (8) converges approximately to the same
freely from a randomly selected initial condition, real number xn independently of xn+t .
until the corresponding symbolic dynamic produces Thus, it is possible to assign a real number (xn )
the desired word. After that, the initial condition is to every sequence of symbols (σn , σn+1 , . . . , σn+t −1 ).
recorded. Another option consists in establishing a Finally, it should be noticed that this strategy to find xn
relation between a chain of symbols and the real avoids waiting until the system produces the desired
number from which the dynamical system generates word [2].
38 P. García, J. Jiménez / Physics Letters A 298 (2002) 35–40

3. Chaotic communication system where n = 0, t, 2t, 3t, . . . , j = n/t and Pj (i) is

defined as before.
The communication procedure proposed here to
transmit binary messages is set up in two steps. In The receiver module is composed by a set of Nf
the first step the message is translated from binary indexed piecewise chaotic maps with parameters fixed
form into a sequence written using four symbols. This by the key. The decryption procedure on the j th
previous coding is done by replacing pairs of bits in subsequence at the receiver is done by iterating t times
the following form: the transformation labeled by the j th integer in {Ki },
 starting from the initial condition xj . The resulting
 00 → q1 , iterates are coded in binary form according to the

01 → q2 ,
σn = (10) following rule:
 10 → q3 ,
  0, 0 if x
11 → q4 .  j +n ∈ I1 ,
 0, 1 if x
j +n ∈ I2 ,
mn , mn+1 =
The second step is an encoding–decoding procedure 
 1, 0 if x j +n ∈ I3 ,
whose aim is to provide security to the transmission 1, 1 if xj +n ∈ I4 .
of the message. In this procedure the emitter, by using
a secret key, encodes the message m to an apparently An example
meaningless sequence, called ciphertext. The resulting
ciphertext is sent over a public channel to the receiver In order to demonstrate how our ideas can be im-
system. The encoding–decoding system also provides plemented, we show the performance of the suggested
the inverse procedure that allows the receiver to encoding–decoding procedure in a particular case.
recover, from the ciphertext, the original information. Here for the message we use the standard seven-bit
In this particular case, we choose as secret key a ASCII computer for the characters and we have en-
set of Nf indexed piecewise linear maps (as shown coded the text
in Fig. 1), each labeled by an integer between 0 and
Communication Through Chaotic Map
n − 1 and a set {Ki }N k
i=1 of integers randomly chosen Systems
among 0 and Nf .
In the encoded procedure, we consider each map in the binary chain
as a processing unit entrusted to encrypt the subse-
100001111011111101101110110111101011
quence of the message indicated by the key {Ki }. In
the case that Nk is less than the number of words in the 101110110100111000111100001111010011
message, the transformations are assigned by repeat- 010011101111110111001000001010100110
ing the sequence {Ki }. This encrypting strategy can be 100011100101101111111010111001111101
detailed as follows: 000010000010000111101000110000111011
111110100110100111000110100000100110
(i) The message is divided into subsequences of 111000011110000010000010100111111001
length t: 11100111110100110010111011011110011.

m = σ0 , σ1 , . . . , σt −1 σt , σt +1 , . . . , σ2t −1 σ2t , . . . . By using (11), this chain is transformed into a written



 sequence by using four symbols:
w0 w1
cabdcdddbcdcdbdccdcdcdbadcaddaaddbad
(ii) Every subsequence is encrypted using the trans-
formation indicated by the key, i.e., the j th subse- badcdddbdacaacccbccadcbbcdddccdcbddb
quence is encoded using the j th element of the set aacaacabdccadaadcdddccbccbdabccaacbc
{Ki }, thus: dcabdcabdadbaabbadddaddaddccbcbbdbc.
In this example we shall use as key a family of ten

t j
Tn+i
wj → xj = , (11) different piecewise chaotic maps whose parameters
Pj (i) are given in Table 1.
i=0
 P. García, J. Jiménez / Physics Letters A 298 (2002) 35–40 39

Table 1 In our particular case, suppose that the intruder

Partitions for the family of chaotic maps knows the form of the transformations but does not
Index I1 I2 I3 I4 know the partition {Ii }, which determines the sets {pi }
0 0.12500 0.31250 0.28125 0.28125 and {si }.
1 0.15625 0.28125 0.28125 0.28125 A exhaustive search of the parameters requires a
2 0.21875 0.28125 0.25000 0.25000 discretization of the interval (0.0, 1.0) in at least 104
3 0.25000 0.25000 0.25000 0.25000
parts, and the task demands finding four of these
4 0.28125 0.28125 0.21875 0.21875
5 0.21875 0.25000 0.28125 0.25000 numbers whose sum is 1.0. For such discretization, the
6 0.18750 0.18750 0.31250 0.31250 required number of 4-tuples is about 1013 .
7 0.31250 0.21875 0.28125 0.18750 This represents an improvement in relation to the
8 0.31250 0.31250 0.21875 0.15625 results presented in Ref. [2]. The security of our com-
9 0.18750 0.15625 0.31250 0.34375
munication system can be enhanced by increasing the
number of branches in the map; however, an increase
The length of the words is arbitrarily chosen as 20 in the number of branches results in an increase of
and the sequence of integers that indicate the order in the Lyapunov exponent, which in turn decreases the
which the transformations are used is given by length (t) of the subsequences wj .

S = {8, 3, 7, 7, 9, 1, 3, . . .}.
With this key, we apply the encoding procedure over
the message. The ciphertext obtained is
0.667202 0.826402 0.905744 0.954064
0.666879 0.534888 0.952387.
Subsequently, the decoding scheme is used on this
ciphertext, and the decoded message is
Communication Through Chaotic Map
Systems.
4. Main results
With respect to security, when we study the effects
of parameters mismatch, we observe that slight differ-
ences (about 10−4 ) between the value of the parame-
ters of the transmitter and the receiver produce the fol-
lowing decoded message:
Cn \mZi\d1QOn[FYot/5+Yh ∼ g?{ ?;
P|SyXwubq∼ .
This sensitivity to small variations about the correct
parameters is a desirable property regarding the secu-
rity of the encoding–decoding system. As a measure of
security against unauthorized decryption, we can esti-
mate an upper bound of the work required for an ex-
haustive search of the key, under the assumption that
the strategy of encryption is known (Shanon’s maxim:
“The enemy knows the system being used”).
5. Conclusions
We have presented a communication system based
on the symbolic dynamics of a family of piecewise
linear chaotic maps.
In contrast with methods that require control of
a chaotic system, the encoding and decoding in our
method are achieved by repeating a very simple cal-
culation.
This idea presents another desirable features such
as (i) simple implementation, (ii) the encoding and
decoding is done by the same system, (iii) low cost
of hardware implementation, (iv) fast encryption and
decryption, and (v) a reasonable degree of security.
Acknowledgement
This research was partially supported by Consejo
de Desarrollo Científico y Humanístico, Universidad
Central de Venezuela.
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