Image encryption using the fractional wavelet transform

In this paper a technique for the coding of digital images is developed using Fractional Wavelet Transform (FWT) and random phase masks (RPMs). The digital image to encrypt is transformed with the FWT, after the coefficients resulting from the FWT (Approximation, Details: Horizontal, vertical and diagonal) are multiplied each one by different RPMs (statistically independent) and these latest results is applied an Inverse Wavelet Transform (IWT), obtaining the encrypted digital image. The decryption technique is the same encryption technique in reverse sense. This technique provides immediate advantages security compared to conventional techniques, in this technique the mother wavelet family and fractional orders associated with the FWT are additional keys that make access difficult to information to an unauthorized person (besides the RPMs used), thereby the level of encryption security is extraordinarily increased. In this work the mathematical support for the use of the FWT in the computational algorithm for the encryption is also developed.