Semi-fragile watermarking of remote sensing images using DWT, vector quantization and automatic tiling

TL;DR

This paper introduces a semi-fragile watermarking method for remote sensing images using DWT, vector quantization, and automatic tiling, enabling detection of modifications while resisting certain lossy compressions.

Contribution

It proposes a novel watermarking scheme that embeds marks into multispectral images via tree-structured vector quantization, improving tamper detection and robustness against compression.

Findings

Preserves watermark under lossy compression above a threshold.

Detects forged blocks and localizes modifications.

Effective for multispectral and hyperspectral images.

Abstract

A semi-fragile watermarking scheme for multiple band images is presented in this article. We propose to embed a mark into remote sensing images applying a tree-structured vector quantization approach to the pixel signatures instead of processing each band separately. The signature of the multispectral or hyperspectral image is used to embed the mark in it order to detect any significant modification of the original image. The image is segmented into three-dimensional blocks, and a tree-structured vector quantizer is built for each block. These trees are manipulated using an iterative algorithm until the resulting block satisfies a required criterion, which establishes the embedded mark. The method is shown to be able to preserve the mark under lossy compression (above a given threshold) but, at the same time, it detects possibly forged blocks and their position in the whole image.