VLSI ARCHITECTURE FOR ENCRYPTION AND WATERMARKING UNITS TOWARDS THE MAKING OF A SECURE CAMERA O. B. Adamo Saraju P. Mohanty E. Kougianos M. Varanasi oba0002@unt.edu smohanty@cse.unt.edu eliask@unt.edu varanasi@unt.edu VLSI Design and CAD Laboratory, University of North Texas, P. O. Box 311366, Denton, TX 76203. Abstract— Considerable amount of research is directed at putting biometric data in conventional forms of identification such as passports. However, putting biometric data in pass- ports makes the data vulnerable to theft, causing privacy related issues. To address such issues, we present a new approach and architecture in the framework of a digital cam- era, conceptualized as a “Secure Digital Camera (SDC)”. The SDC uses watermarking and encryption processes for image security and authentication. The Rijndael AES algorithm and a DCT-based visible watermarking algorithm were chosen for implementation in our camera. The proposed architectures were modeled, simulated and synthesized in Xilinx ISE. I. I NTRODUCTION To enhance security, the Department of Homeland Secu- rity proposed inserting biometric data such as fingerprints, iris scans, signatures etc. in individual passports and visas. Biometrics is an important tool that can identify and crosscheck a person’s identity [1]. However, such a vast database of biometric information makes an enticing target for hackers and terrorists. Counteracting unlawful attempts by protecting and preventing modification of biometric information creates an urgent need for development of protection mechanisms. An effective solution can be ju- dicious use of watermarking and encryption together at the source end of the biometric process in hardware like digital camera or scanners etc. Watermarking is the process whereby a host image is embedded with data for the purpose of protection and authentication. On the other hand, encryption is the transformation of data into secret code with the purpose of protecting the secrecy of the data when sent through an insecure channel. Several attempts have been made to develop the dif- ferent units of a digital camera with watermarking capa- bilities, but few have dealt with the design of the entire camera. Only some of these attempts have also incorpo- rated cryptography in the camera design. As a result, we present the design and architecture of a digital camera sys- tem that incorporates watermarking and encryption. The trustworthy camera, with the aim of restoring credibility to photographic images using encryption, is presented in [2]. A biometric authentication system for a secure camera is developed in [3], however, a VLSI architecture was not proposed. Authors in [4] presented a design for a CMOS APS imager incorporating circuits for a pseudo-random generator for invisible watermarking. The authors in [5] presented a VLSI architecture for implementing two digital watermarking schemes. Industries have also produced cameras with water- marking capabilities; however these camera models were discontinued. For example, Epson released the PhotoPC 3000Z and 800Z model and Kodak also manufactured the DC-200 and DC-260 but were all discontinued [3]. In this paper, as a capstone to previous work, we introduce an architecture for a SDC with both watermarking and en- cryption capabilities for image security and authentication. II. CONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS PAPER We present a new concept of an SDC for image security, protection, and authentication. We propose that the SDC watermarks biometric data into the image of an individual taken by it using an invisible watermarking technique. The watermarking key is encrypted and then embedded visibly in the form of a barcode on the picture image. We therefore, present a hardware implementation of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and a DCT based visible watermarking algorithm. The architecture for AES [6] is area optimal as the round key for each round is calculated on the fly, instead of calculating all round keys and storing them. The architecture that embeds the barcode is based on the visible watermarking algorithm in [7]. III. BIOMETRIC DATA PROTECTION USING THE PROPOSED SECURE DIGITAL CAMERA In this section, we discuss the proposed SDC and its main components as shown in Fig. 1. The camera will invisibly watermark biometric information such as “iris image”, “handwritten signature”, “fingerprint” etc. into an individual’s image, which is then added to the passport. The watermarking will be key-based and this key will be encrypted and then embedded as a visible watermark in the form of a barcode on the picture image. This unique concept of biometric data hiding is presented in Fig. 2. The robustness of the invisible watermark and the authenticity of the picture image will be based on the secret key. The biometric data cannot be accessed and extracted unless the secret key is known. At the same time, the secret key for the invisible watermarking process cannot be known unless it is decrypted. Hence, our design offers double protection to the biometric data embedded into the picture