PAPER

Abstract — With so many forms of media taking on the digital format in recent times, it is necessary to provide security for ones valuable intellectual property (IP). Watermarking is the process of inserting information into a piece of digital data in an unperceivable manner while retaining this information’s recoverability. Watermarking is at the forefront of IP protection and is constantly under development due to its proven ability to deliver security of digital data. This paper first analyzes two of the most popular domains of watermarking algorithms, namely Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). Then it gives an overview analysis of Perceptual Masking, a technique that effectively utilizes the characteristics of the Human Visual System (HVS) in order to embed a watermark. Then, finally, this paper describes a technique of using Perceptual Masking in conjunction with DCT: allowing for high strength watermarks to be inserted with low image distortion. This technique evidently preserves exceptional image quality and robustness under a variety of attacks. For the purpose of this research, which later turned into a design, all three algorithms based on DCT, DWT and DCT with PM were realized in MATLAB, and the results were analyzed and compared. I