Performance Optimization of DWT-Based Image Watermarking Using Genetic Algorithms

Abstract

The excellent spatial localization, frequency spread, and multi-resolution characteristics of the discrete wavelets transform (DWT), which are similar to the theoretical models of the human visual system, facilitated the development of many imperceptible and robust DWT-based watermarking algorithms. However, there has been extremely few proposed algorithms on optimized DWT-based image watermarking that can simultaneously provide perceptual transparency and robustness Since these two watermarking requirements are conflicting, in this paper we treat the DWT-based image watermarking problem as an optimization problem, and solve it using genetic algorithms. We demonstrate through the experimental results we obtained that optimal DWT-based image watermarking can be achieved only if watermarking has been applied at specific wavelet sub-bands and by using specific watermarkamplification values.