Robust Digital Image Watermarking Using Discrete Wavelet Transform and Singular Value Decomposition

International Journal of Computer Science and Technology | Vol. 7, No. 10, October 2005 | pp. 73–80

DOI: 10.46882/2005/IJCST/071013

Research Article

Title: Robust Digital Image Watermarking Using Discrete Wavelet Transform and Singular Value Decomposition

Names of Authors: Chong-Min Wang¹, Aisha Bello²

Authors’ Affiliations: ¹Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; ²Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria

Abstract:
Protecting digital copyright ownership requires robust watermarking techniques that can withstand aggressive signal-processing attacks without degrading the structural quality of the host image. This paper presents a hybrid digital image watermarking algorithm that combines the multi-resolution analysis of the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) with the stability of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). The host image is decomposed into four subbands using a first-level DWT, and the singular values of the high-frequency subband (HH) are altered to embed the watermark data. Experimental evaluations on standard 512 x 512 grayscale images demonstrated a peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of 42.15 dB ± 0.45 dB, showing high imperceptibility. Under aggressive attacks including JPEG compression down to a 10% quality factor, Gaussian noise introduction (variance = 0.02), and median filtering, the watermark extraction routine maintained a normalized correlation (NC) coefficient above 0.94. This balance of imperceptibility and robustness proves the system's effectiveness for secure intellectual property management.

Keywords: Digital Watermarking, Discrete Wavelet Transform, Singular Value Decomposition, Image Security, Robustness

Manuscript Timeline: Received July 05, 2005; Revised August 19, 2005; Accepted September 12, 2005; Published October 25, 2005

Citation: Wang, C. M., & Bello, A. (2005). Robust Digital Image Watermarking Using Discrete Wavelet Transform and Singular Value Decomposition. International Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 7(10), 73–80.

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