Design of image steganographic architecture using quantum-dot cellular automata for secure nanocommunication networks

The objective of this article is to introduce an architecture that performs image steganography. The architecture is built on quantum dot cellular automata (QCA) technology. The reason behind increasing use of QCA device is that it provides low device density with small amount of power dissipated. To encode message inside an image, Least Significant Bit (LSB) based encoder/decoder steganography circuit has been proposed. To design this encoder/decoder circuit, a new QCA XOR gate has been designed. The proposed QCA XOR gate has low device density and less cell count compare to other existing circuits. The proposed circuit also requires less amount of power. The Mean Square Error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), and Structural Similarity Index Method (SSIM) are used to measure the embedded information is in the acceptable range or not. The design accuracy is confirmed through simulation results and power analysis performed.