Secure communication based on indirect coupled synchronization

In this paper, a secure communication system composed of four chaotic oscillators is proposed. Two of these oscillators are unidirectionally coupled and employed as transmitter and receiver. The other two oscillators are indirectly coupled and are employed as keystream generators. The novelty lies in the generation of the same chaotic keystream both in the transmitter and receiver side for encryption and decryption purposes. We show, in particular, that it is possible to synchronize the two keystream generators even though they are not directly coupled. So doing, an estimation of the keystream is obtained allowing decrypting the message. The main feature of the proposed communication scheme is that the keystream cannot be generated with the sole knowledge of the transmitted chaotic signal, hence making it very secure. The performance of the proposed communication scheme is shown via simulation using the Chua and Lorenz oscillators.