Collaborative Research: ITR: Secure Signal Embedding -- Code Design and Cryptanalysis

最近，将一组数据嵌入另一组数据的各种技术变得流行起来；这包括水印、隐写、指纹和叛徒追踪。这些技术正在新兴领域得到应用，如知识产权保护、媒体认证、数据库索引、广播加密、广播监控和秘密通信。应用领域正在扩大：它们还包括通信问题，如广播信道和无线通信。虽然这些技术的发展在很大程度上是启发式的，但最近的研究表明，一种根植于信息论的更科学的方法是可行的。该项目扩展了这一科学框架，并探索了上述信号嵌入应用之间的多种基本联系。一个中心主题是信息传输的分组方案的作用；在编码器和/或解码器具有侧信息的通信问题中，随机分组方案是已知的容量实现方案。然而，这些分析是基于限制性假设（如相干通信信道），这些假设迄今为止限制了分码方案的实际适用性。该项目的第二个中心主题是安全需求施加约束的前提，这些约束由基于复杂性的加密方法而不是纯粹的信息论或决策论方法自然地解决。该项目开发了一个系统框架，用于集成安全信号嵌入问题的信息论和密码学方面。这个项目是高度跨学科的，涉及信号处理、通信、编码理论、信息论和密码学的研究和教育活动之间的协同作用。

ABSTRACT0325924Pierre MoulinU of Illinois @ Urbana ChampaignA variety of technologies have recently become popular for embedding one set of data into another; this includes watermarking, steganography, fingerprinting and traitor tracing. These technologies are finding applications in emerging areas such as intellectual property protection, media authentication, database indexing, broadcast encryption, broadcast monitoring, and covert communications. The application areas are expanding: they also include communication problems such as broadcast channels and wireless communications.While the development of these technologies has largely been heuristic, recent research has demonstratedthe feasibility of a more scientific approach rooted in information theory. This project expands this scientific framework and explores the multiple fundamental connections between the signal embedding applications listed above. One central theme is the role of binning schemes for information transmission; random binning schemes are known to be capacity-achieving in problems of communications with side information at the encoder and/or decoder. Yet these analyses are based on restrictive assumptions (such as coherent communication channels) which have limited the practical applicability of binning schemes so far. The second central theme of this project is the premise that security requirements impose constraints which are naturally addressed by a complexity-based cryptographic approach rather than a purely information-theoretic or decision-theoretic approach. This project develops a systematic framework for integrating the information-theoretic and the cryptographic aspects of secure signal embedding problems.This project is highly multidisciplinary and involves a synergy between research and educational activities in signal processing, communications, coding theory, information theory, and cryptography.