This thesis deals with the development and evaluation of blind discrete cosine transform-based wa... more This thesis deals with the development and evaluation of blind discrete cosine transform-based watermarking algorithms for copyright protection of digital still images using handwritten signatures and mobile phone numbers. The new algorithms take into account the perceptual capacity of each low frequency coefficients inside the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) blocks before embedding the watermark information. They are suitable for grey-scale and colour images. Handwritten signatures are used instead of pseudo random numbers. The watermark is inserted in the green channel of the RGB colour images and the luminance channel of the YCrCb images. Mobile phone numbers are used as watermarks for images captured by mobile phone cameras. The information is embedded multiple-times and a shuffling scheme is applied to ensure that no spatial correlation exists between the original host image and the multiple watermark copies. Multiple embedding will increase the robustness of the watermark agai...
This paper studies the different aspects of three implemented watermarking algorithms to evaluate... more This paper studies the different aspects of three implemented watermarking algorithms to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each. To achieve a fair comparison, the same host image and watermark are used to test each algorithm while changing the frequency domain transformation. The three algorithms used are blind and do not require the original image for extracting the watermark. PSNR and the structural similarity index measurement (SSIM) between the host image and the watermarked image are used. The quality of the reconstructed signature was evaluated using normalized correlation. The performance of each algorithm is compared to one another.
This paper presents a tool for different applications digital watermarking of still colour images... more This paper presents a tool for different applications digital watermarking of still colour images. The aim of the scheme is to protect the copyright information or to proof the identity by authenticating the image. In general, all watermarking schemes satisfy only one application. However, the proposed algorithm permits users to use the system for both copyright protection and authentication purposes, even though, both purposes have opposing functions. For instance, watermarking techniques used for copyright protection are meant to be robust and strong against watermark impairment even with massive alterations, whereas watermarking techniques utilized for authentication purposes should be fragile and easily impaired via simple modifications. Nevertheless, any of the aforementioned applications can be selected through one system depending on user’s protection means.
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2021
Recent advancements in technologies enabled the development of smart cities to be more effective ... more Recent advancements in technologies enabled the development of smart cities to be more effective and possible. Smart cities depend on intelligent systems, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, control system, and many more advanced technologies. Sustainability challenges and problems worldwide, with smart and sustainability concepts, reflect almost mutual goals. It includes improving and providing the essential life services for all people efficiently while depending on sustainable, clean, and renewable energy with considerations of different economic, educational, health, social and environmental aspects in the city. In this research, a cost analysis process has been implemented to ease the implementation and resource utilization of smart and sustainable cities in Africa. The challenges and difficulties of those implementations are summarized. Keywords—Smart cities; sustainable energy; renewable energy; internet of things; artificial intelligence
A new evaluation tool for generating attacks on watermarking algorithms is proposed. The tool is ... more A new evaluation tool for generating attacks on watermarking algorithms is proposed. The tool is implemented for digital still images but additional attacks for audio or video can be added in the test environment continuously. The implemented tool is comprised of 23 different attacks using a graphical user interface (GUI) to open, select, attack, evaluate, and display the results of both the original and attacked image in ease. It permits user to select any desirable image and perform all aforementioned attacks simultaneously allowing the user to enter or select attack strength parameters. User can also select individual modified images and perform any required changes to the attacked image by adjusting parameters without affecting other attacked images in the scheme. The execution process is performed at a high speed. The tool is much easier for end-users to understand and learn than other traditional tools that need commands to be known or memorized.
Summary A new frequency domain based watermarking scheme for colour images captured by mobile pho... more Summary A new frequency domain based watermarking scheme for colour images captured by mobile phone cameras is proposed. The proposed technique embeds personal mobile phone numbers inside the image. The aim of the scheme is to protect the copy right ownership of the image. Each bit of the decimal digits is inserted onto one low frequency coefficient of one of the DCT blocks of the host image. A DCT coefficient selection (DCS) process has been applied to increase the invisibility qualities, this process managed to find the coefficient with the maximum magnitude. Different embedding location depending on the spatial frequencies of the host image will be selected. The proposed algorithm achieves a high PSNR values and is found to be robust against JPEG compression and different image manipulation algorithms.
International Journal of Information and Education Technology
The new paradigm shift of education where learners should learn real-life scenarios and solve rea... more The new paradigm shift of education where learners should learn real-life scenarios and solve real-life problems has created a major challenge. Students are passive and detached and may struggle to see the relevance of what they are learning to their lives. The recent growth of emerging technologies has launched terms such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) into mainstream topic. Virtual reality, an integrated, hands-on tool for learning, can play a unique role in addressing these educational challenges. The proposed research demonstrates using the knowledge of integrated disciplines with virtual reality. COSPACES and MERGE cube add-on have been used to develop a simulation platform to teach water cycle process for young kids. This type of integration develops learners' 21st century skills to be decision makers, problem solvers, lifelong learners, creators, innovators, and to think critically in solving problems.
This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for digital watermarking of still colour images. The wa... more This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for digital watermarking of still colour images. The watermark is embedded in the DCT coefficients of the green channel of the RGB colour image. The algorithm takes into account the perceptual capacity of each coefficient inside the DCT blocks before embedding the watermark information. Therefore, the first 16 low frequency coefficients (excluding the DC value) in the 8 times 8 DCT block was screened and the eight coefficients with the maximum magnitudes were selected for embedding. The algorithm used is blind and does not require the original image for extracting the watermark. The peak signal to noise ratios (PSNR) is around 60 dB. The watermarking method is shown to be robust against JPEG compression, additive noise, cropping, scaling, low-pass and median filtering.
A hybrid microgrid system (HMG) is a new avenue that offers an optimal, reliable, and cost-effect... more A hybrid microgrid system (HMG) is a new avenue that offers an optimal, reliable, and cost-effective solution for utilizing localized renewable energy resources over individual DC or AC microgrids. Nonetheless, the performance of the HMG varies greatly depending on the availability of renewable resources, desired services to provide, and demand system parameters. These parameters have a high impact on decision-making, reduced costs, and improved system reliability. Therefore, in this work, a reliable and robust developed multi-objective optimizer based on the hunger game search optimizer (HGSO) is proposed to attain HMG scheduling energy management schemes over a long-time horizon of 96 hours under uncertain real-time prices. The proposed strategy's main targets are retaining uninterruptible power to the load with minimal operating costs and minimal emission from the storage systems with achieving a high renewable factor. Moreover, a case study is discussed for including the battery degradation cost in the optimization process. These targets expressed via four objective functions for a HMG include grid-connected with photovoltaic and wind as renewable energy resources, besides battery, fuel cell, and supercapacitor as a storage system. The integrated system has been designed to supply the power demand for different load profiles in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The proposed multi-objective hunger game search optimizer (MOHGS) is compared with the recent state-of-the-art optimizers, including multi-objective versions of marine predators algorithm (MOMPA), slime mould algorithm (MOSMA), golden-eagle optimizer (MOGEO), grasshopper optimization algorithm (MOGOA), multi-verse optimizer (MOMVO), antlion optimizer (MOALO), and grey wolf optimizer(MOGWO) to evaluate the performance of the proposed power management system based MOHGS. The scheduled HMG performance is compared with the baseline system to clarify the essential outcomes for the proposed energy management approach. The obtained results confirm the proposed systems' reliability in reducing the power loss, saving the lifetime of the proposed energy storage elements, and minimizing the emissions by 43 % and 34.1 %. Furthermore, the proposed approach saves money for the customers by 184% and 4427% throughout the two studied locations via selling power for the grid compared to the baseline approach. The proposed approach achieves RF values of 86.5% and 94.2%; meanwhile, the baseline approach offers 79.3% and 93.6% for the studied locations, respectively. INDEX TERMS Energy management; Micro grid; Hunger Game Search; Multi-objective Hunger Game Search.
2009 International Conference on Advances in Computational Tools for Engineering Applications, 2009
This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for digital watermarking of still colour images. The wa... more This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for digital watermarking of still colour images. The watermark is embedded in the DCT coefficients of the green channel of the RGB colour image. The algorithm takes into account the perceptual capacity of each coefficient inside the DCT blocks before embedding the watermark information. Therefore, the first 16 low frequency coefficients (excluding the DC value) in the 8 times 8 DCT block was screened and the eight coefficients with the maximum magnitudes were selected for embedding. The algorithm used is blind and does not require the original image for extracting the watermark. The peak signal to noise ratios (PSNR) is around 60 dB. The watermarking method is shown to be robust against JPEG compression, additive noise, cropping, scaling, low-pass and median filtering.
2009 IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT), 2009
This paper deals with colour image authentication technique using a high capacity watermarking al... more This paper deals with colour image authentication technique using a high capacity watermarking algorithm. The watermark is embedded into the green channel of the host image by modifying the very low frequency coefficients of the DCT transformation. The new algorithm can embed watermarking information in up to 25% of the host image size. The new technique can resist classical attacks
2009 IEEE/ACS International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications, 2009
In this paper an image authentication technique that embeds a binary watermark into a host color ... more In this paper an image authentication technique that embeds a binary watermark into a host color image is proposed. In this scheme the colour image is first transformed from the RGB to the YCbCr color space. The watermark is embedded into the Y channel of the host image by selectively modifying the very low frequency parts of the DCT transformation. It is shown that the proposed technique can resist classical attacks such as JPEG Compression, low pass filtering, median filtering, cropping, and geometrical scaling attack. Moreover, the recovery method is blind and doesn't need the original host image for extraction. I.
A robust watermarking technique is implemented for copyright protection. The proposed method is b... more A robust watermarking technique is implemented for copyright protection. The proposed method is based on 2-level discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The embedded watermarking information is a mobile phone number including the international code. The first level of the DWT transformation is applied on 16×16 blocks of the host image. All the coefficients of the 8×8 low-low (LL1) first level sub-band are grouped into one matrix. The second level of the DWT is then applied to the grouped matrix from the first level transformation. The highest coefficient from the LL2 sub-band (4×4) is used for embedding the watermark information. The extracting process is blind since it does not require the original image at the receiver side. The distortion in the host image due to the watermarking process is minimal and the PSNR is greater than 60 dB. The proposed algorithm showed robustness against several attacks such as scaling, filtering, cropping, additive noise and JPEG compression. Image processing. DWT. Watermarking.
This thesis deals with the development and evaluation of blind discrete cosine transform-based wa... more This thesis deals with the development and evaluation of blind discrete cosine transform-based watermarking algorithms for copyright protection of digital still images using handwritten signatures and mobile phone numbers. The new algorithms take into account the perceptual capacity of each low frequency coefficients inside the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) blocks before embedding the watermark information. They are suitable for grey-scale and colour images. Handwritten signatures are used instead of pseudo random numbers. The watermark is inserted in the green channel of the RGB colour images and the luminance channel of the YCrCb images. Mobile phone numbers are used as watermarks for images captured by mobile phone cameras. The information is embedded multiple-times and a shuffling scheme is applied to ensure that no spatial correlation exists between the original host image and the multiple watermark copies. Multiple embedding will increase the robustness of the watermark agai...
This paper studies the different aspects of three implemented watermarking algorithms to evaluate... more This paper studies the different aspects of three implemented watermarking algorithms to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each. To achieve a fair comparison, the same host image and watermark are used to test each algorithm while changing the frequency domain transformation. The three algorithms used are blind and do not require the original image for extracting the watermark. PSNR and the structural similarity index measurement (SSIM) between the host image and the watermarked image are used. The quality of the reconstructed signature was evaluated using normalized correlation. The performance of each algorithm is compared to one another.
This paper presents a tool for different applications digital watermarking of still colour images... more This paper presents a tool for different applications digital watermarking of still colour images. The aim of the scheme is to protect the copyright information or to proof the identity by authenticating the image. In general, all watermarking schemes satisfy only one application. However, the proposed algorithm permits users to use the system for both copyright protection and authentication purposes, even though, both purposes have opposing functions. For instance, watermarking techniques used for copyright protection are meant to be robust and strong against watermark impairment even with massive alterations, whereas watermarking techniques utilized for authentication purposes should be fragile and easily impaired via simple modifications. Nevertheless, any of the aforementioned applications can be selected through one system depending on user’s protection means.
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2021
Recent advancements in technologies enabled the development of smart cities to be more effective ... more Recent advancements in technologies enabled the development of smart cities to be more effective and possible. Smart cities depend on intelligent systems, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, control system, and many more advanced technologies. Sustainability challenges and problems worldwide, with smart and sustainability concepts, reflect almost mutual goals. It includes improving and providing the essential life services for all people efficiently while depending on sustainable, clean, and renewable energy with considerations of different economic, educational, health, social and environmental aspects in the city. In this research, a cost analysis process has been implemented to ease the implementation and resource utilization of smart and sustainable cities in Africa. The challenges and difficulties of those implementations are summarized. Keywords—Smart cities; sustainable energy; renewable energy; internet of things; artificial intelligence
A new evaluation tool for generating attacks on watermarking algorithms is proposed. The tool is ... more A new evaluation tool for generating attacks on watermarking algorithms is proposed. The tool is implemented for digital still images but additional attacks for audio or video can be added in the test environment continuously. The implemented tool is comprised of 23 different attacks using a graphical user interface (GUI) to open, select, attack, evaluate, and display the results of both the original and attacked image in ease. It permits user to select any desirable image and perform all aforementioned attacks simultaneously allowing the user to enter or select attack strength parameters. User can also select individual modified images and perform any required changes to the attacked image by adjusting parameters without affecting other attacked images in the scheme. The execution process is performed at a high speed. The tool is much easier for end-users to understand and learn than other traditional tools that need commands to be known or memorized.
Summary A new frequency domain based watermarking scheme for colour images captured by mobile pho... more Summary A new frequency domain based watermarking scheme for colour images captured by mobile phone cameras is proposed. The proposed technique embeds personal mobile phone numbers inside the image. The aim of the scheme is to protect the copy right ownership of the image. Each bit of the decimal digits is inserted onto one low frequency coefficient of one of the DCT blocks of the host image. A DCT coefficient selection (DCS) process has been applied to increase the invisibility qualities, this process managed to find the coefficient with the maximum magnitude. Different embedding location depending on the spatial frequencies of the host image will be selected. The proposed algorithm achieves a high PSNR values and is found to be robust against JPEG compression and different image manipulation algorithms.
International Journal of Information and Education Technology
The new paradigm shift of education where learners should learn real-life scenarios and solve rea... more The new paradigm shift of education where learners should learn real-life scenarios and solve real-life problems has created a major challenge. Students are passive and detached and may struggle to see the relevance of what they are learning to their lives. The recent growth of emerging technologies has launched terms such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) into mainstream topic. Virtual reality, an integrated, hands-on tool for learning, can play a unique role in addressing these educational challenges. The proposed research demonstrates using the knowledge of integrated disciplines with virtual reality. COSPACES and MERGE cube add-on have been used to develop a simulation platform to teach water cycle process for young kids. This type of integration develops learners' 21st century skills to be decision makers, problem solvers, lifelong learners, creators, innovators, and to think critically in solving problems.
This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for digital watermarking of still colour images. The wa... more This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for digital watermarking of still colour images. The watermark is embedded in the DCT coefficients of the green channel of the RGB colour image. The algorithm takes into account the perceptual capacity of each coefficient inside the DCT blocks before embedding the watermark information. Therefore, the first 16 low frequency coefficients (excluding the DC value) in the 8 times 8 DCT block was screened and the eight coefficients with the maximum magnitudes were selected for embedding. The algorithm used is blind and does not require the original image for extracting the watermark. The peak signal to noise ratios (PSNR) is around 60 dB. The watermarking method is shown to be robust against JPEG compression, additive noise, cropping, scaling, low-pass and median filtering.
A hybrid microgrid system (HMG) is a new avenue that offers an optimal, reliable, and cost-effect... more A hybrid microgrid system (HMG) is a new avenue that offers an optimal, reliable, and cost-effective solution for utilizing localized renewable energy resources over individual DC or AC microgrids. Nonetheless, the performance of the HMG varies greatly depending on the availability of renewable resources, desired services to provide, and demand system parameters. These parameters have a high impact on decision-making, reduced costs, and improved system reliability. Therefore, in this work, a reliable and robust developed multi-objective optimizer based on the hunger game search optimizer (HGSO) is proposed to attain HMG scheduling energy management schemes over a long-time horizon of 96 hours under uncertain real-time prices. The proposed strategy's main targets are retaining uninterruptible power to the load with minimal operating costs and minimal emission from the storage systems with achieving a high renewable factor. Moreover, a case study is discussed for including the battery degradation cost in the optimization process. These targets expressed via four objective functions for a HMG include grid-connected with photovoltaic and wind as renewable energy resources, besides battery, fuel cell, and supercapacitor as a storage system. The integrated system has been designed to supply the power demand for different load profiles in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The proposed multi-objective hunger game search optimizer (MOHGS) is compared with the recent state-of-the-art optimizers, including multi-objective versions of marine predators algorithm (MOMPA), slime mould algorithm (MOSMA), golden-eagle optimizer (MOGEO), grasshopper optimization algorithm (MOGOA), multi-verse optimizer (MOMVO), antlion optimizer (MOALO), and grey wolf optimizer(MOGWO) to evaluate the performance of the proposed power management system based MOHGS. The scheduled HMG performance is compared with the baseline system to clarify the essential outcomes for the proposed energy management approach. The obtained results confirm the proposed systems' reliability in reducing the power loss, saving the lifetime of the proposed energy storage elements, and minimizing the emissions by 43 % and 34.1 %. Furthermore, the proposed approach saves money for the customers by 184% and 4427% throughout the two studied locations via selling power for the grid compared to the baseline approach. The proposed approach achieves RF values of 86.5% and 94.2%; meanwhile, the baseline approach offers 79.3% and 93.6% for the studied locations, respectively. INDEX TERMS Energy management; Micro grid; Hunger Game Search; Multi-objective Hunger Game Search.
2009 International Conference on Advances in Computational Tools for Engineering Applications, 2009
This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for digital watermarking of still colour images. The wa... more This paper presents an adaptive algorithm for digital watermarking of still colour images. The watermark is embedded in the DCT coefficients of the green channel of the RGB colour image. The algorithm takes into account the perceptual capacity of each coefficient inside the DCT blocks before embedding the watermark information. Therefore, the first 16 low frequency coefficients (excluding the DC value) in the 8 times 8 DCT block was screened and the eight coefficients with the maximum magnitudes were selected for embedding. The algorithm used is blind and does not require the original image for extracting the watermark. The peak signal to noise ratios (PSNR) is around 60 dB. The watermarking method is shown to be robust against JPEG compression, additive noise, cropping, scaling, low-pass and median filtering.
2009 IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT), 2009
This paper deals with colour image authentication technique using a high capacity watermarking al... more This paper deals with colour image authentication technique using a high capacity watermarking algorithm. The watermark is embedded into the green channel of the host image by modifying the very low frequency coefficients of the DCT transformation. The new algorithm can embed watermarking information in up to 25% of the host image size. The new technique can resist classical attacks
2009 IEEE/ACS International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications, 2009
In this paper an image authentication technique that embeds a binary watermark into a host color ... more In this paper an image authentication technique that embeds a binary watermark into a host color image is proposed. In this scheme the colour image is first transformed from the RGB to the YCbCr color space. The watermark is embedded into the Y channel of the host image by selectively modifying the very low frequency parts of the DCT transformation. It is shown that the proposed technique can resist classical attacks such as JPEG Compression, low pass filtering, median filtering, cropping, and geometrical scaling attack. Moreover, the recovery method is blind and doesn't need the original host image for extraction. I.
A robust watermarking technique is implemented for copyright protection. The proposed method is b... more A robust watermarking technique is implemented for copyright protection. The proposed method is based on 2-level discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The embedded watermarking information is a mobile phone number including the international code. The first level of the DWT transformation is applied on 16×16 blocks of the host image. All the coefficients of the 8×8 low-low (LL1) first level sub-band are grouped into one matrix. The second level of the DWT is then applied to the grouped matrix from the first level transformation. The highest coefficient from the LL2 sub-band (4×4) is used for embedding the watermark information. The extracting process is blind since it does not require the original image at the receiver side. The distortion in the host image due to the watermarking process is minimal and the PSNR is greater than 60 dB. The proposed algorithm showed robustness against several attacks such as scaling, filtering, cropping, additive noise and JPEG compression. Image processing. DWT. Watermarking.
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Papers by Ahmed Al-Gindy