Generation of no-equilibrium multi-fold chaotic attractor for image processing and security.

Generation of hidden attractor with complicated phase portrait in chaotic system with no equilibrium has presented a new research focus in the past decade. However, the existing approaches usually follow the rule that you reap what you sow, i.e., taking an no-equilibrium chaotic system as the seed. In this paper, a novel approach to the generation of no-equilibrium multi-fold hidden attractors is presented. The offset boosting and the operation of complex number are applied to several cases, including the seed chaotic systems with no equilibrium, with single unstable node, or with single stable node-focus. In specific, the offset boosting shifts the single non-zero equilibrium to the origin, then the operation of complex number rules out the equilibrium in the folded system and generates multi-fold trajectories. The highlight is that the proposed approach is not limited to the no-equilibrium seed system, but also applicable for different types of single-equilibrium seed systems, even the seed system with a single line of equilibrium. The detailed numerical simulations and experiments confirmed the feasibility of the proposed approach. Finally, an image encryption algorithm and its practical microcontroller-based implementation are presented to support the potential application. • Systematic approach for folding trajectory of chaotic system. • New multi-fold chaotic hidden attractors with no equilibrium. • New chaos-based encryption algorithm for image security. • Dynamic memory scheme for microcontroller implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]