Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication (ICCMC 2020)
IEEE Xplore Part Number:CFP20K25-ART; ISBN:978-1-7281-4889-2
Enhanced Image Steganography with PVD
2020 Fourth International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication (ICCMC) 978-1-7281-4889-2/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE 10.1109/ICCMC48092.2020.ICCMC-000176
and Edge Detection
1
B.Vishnu, 3 Leena Vishnu Namboothiri
1,2
PG Scholar, 3 Assistant Professor
1,2,3
Department of Computer Science & IT
1,2,3
Amrita School of Arts & Sciences, Kochi
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
1
bvishnu220@gmail.com ,3 vleena@gmail.com
Abstract. S teganography is the concept to conceal
information and the data by embedding it as secret data
into various digital medium in order to achieve higher
security. To achieve this, many steganographic
algorithms are already proposed. The ability of human
eyes as well as invisibility remain the most important
and prominent factor for the security and protection.
The most commonly used security measure of data
hiding within images
Yet it is ineffective against S teganalysis and lacks
proper verifications. Thus the proposed system of
Image S teganography using PVD (Pixel Value
Differentiating) proves to be a better choice. It
compresses and embeds data in images at the pixel
value difference calculated between two consecutive
pixels. To increase the security, another technique
called Edge Detection is used along with PVD to embed
data at the edges. Edge Detection techniques like Canny
algorithm are used to find the edges in an image
horizontally as well as vertically. The edge pixels in an
image can be used to handle more bits of message s,
because more pixel value shifts can be handled by the
image edge area.
Keywords: Image S teganography, PVD, Canny Edge
Detection.
I. INTRODUCTION
The basic princip le of the Steganography technique is
to conceal the secret data or information in images,
audios, or video files[1 ]. It is basically a technology
and science to conceal confidential informat ion by us
ing other commun ications or med ia that tend to be les
s suspicious. In this developing and edge-cutting
world of technologies, the need for and reach of data
has always grown to the point where most of the
world ’s functionalities operate on data and informat io
n basis. This essential factor has also invariably
raised the need for protection of messages and data
which are of h igh confidentiality levels. The formal
and most commonly used technique till date is
Encryption. Th is technique basically trans mits
informat ion by changing the information to some
978-1-7281-4889-2/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
2
Sandeep R Sajeesh, 3 Leena Vishnu Namboothiri
1,2
PG Scholar, 3 Assistant Professor
1,2,3
Department of Computer Science & IT
1,2,3
Amrita School of Arts & Sciences, Kochi
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
2
sandeeprs5188@gmail.com, 3 vleena@gmail.com
other format (Encryption). On the recip ient side
(Decryption) the sent information is returned back to
its original configuration. This is what is practically
called as Cryptography. Steganography is seen as an
advanced and improved form o f cryptography which
is basically hiding information.
Steganography is distinct from cryptography, as the c
ode is not changed in any way in steganography.The
message will be embedded into some unsuspicious
med ia like images, audio, video etc as shown in Fig 1.
Thus in co mparison to cryptography, Steganography
has higher security imp lications as the informat ion or
message being transmitted is less prone, less
susceptible and less visible to intruder attacks. The
most commonly used Image
Steganography technique is the LSB method. The
least notable parts of the scattered
pixels of an image in this technique are successively
superseded by the mystery messages. The
advantages of this methodology are that it is the least
complex one to understand, easily executable and
generates the secret message containing stego-
pictures. The drawback of Least Significant Bit
(LSB) is that it is helpless against Steganalysis and
does not verify in any way. This disadvantage can
be overcome by using another technique called Pixel
Value Differentiating (PVD). The d ifference of two
successive pixels is taken into consideration for the
purpose of message hiding. This method Pixel Value
Differentiating (PVD) is broadly used in concealing
the data field.Th is approach measures the difference
in in intensity values of two adjacent pixels, wh ich
evaluates the hiding potential depending on the
variations in pixel value. PVD is mo re resilient
against the steganalytical attacks; it is more effect ive
and conceals more data than the LSB. But PVD
weakens the image quality, compared to LSB.
Because of these abrupt differences in the
visual and mathematical properties, edges in a smoot
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Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication (ICCMC 2020)
IEEE Xplore Part Number:CFP20K25-ART; ISBN:978-1-7281-4889-2
her region are d ifficu lt to model as opposed to pixels.
As a result, the pixels in the edge regions serves
better option in concealing the secret data than any
other regions in an image where a slight change in
proportion is very apparent, making the image less
suspicious to intruders and hence enhancing the
security.
Fig.1. General Steganography Mechanism
In this paper, the provided image is converted to
stego image for hid ing secret data or informat ion
within, by comb ining PVD technique with Canny
Edge Detection [2]. This paper contributes:
1) The edges of the provided image are identified
using the Edge Detection Method- Canny Algorithm.
2) The secret text is converted to decimal and then
binary to ensure double protection.
3) PVD is used to embed the images (using modulus
function) wh ich makes ext raction of data more
challenging[2].
4) These steps are applied in reverse for the secret
text extraction from the image pixels.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Through literature survey, various Steganographic
schemes were found. One of the most widely and
commonly used methods for highly encrypted and
confidential data encapsulation in image is the Least
Significant Bit (LSB) technique. Cover pixels are not
changed explicit ly in the Yang [3] scheme. For
extracting the data that is secret, the message is
initially toggled and the pattern generated is taken
and studied [16]. Chen [4] subsequently suggested an
updated scheme that improves the visual
configurations of the stego-image using the LSB
replacement modulus function. Later, Xu, [5]
proposed a fixed-payload steganographic system.
This work was based on the common methods of
steganography and their implementations. Hence, the
strength and weakness of each method were
978-1-7281-4889-2/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
analyzed. In fact, seven steganographic methods were
applied and studied. In paper [6], p ixel-value
differencing (PVD) technique is the steganographic
scheme used on images to embed confidential data. It
is done sequentially into each pixel using the PVD
algorith m. Data can be embedded into RGB color
cover images. Thereby, the secret message is
embedded independently on every pixel color b locks
using the PVD scheme. Fro m this scheme, the
conclusion was hence drawn, that the blocks that
were overlapping resulted in better data hold ing
capacity of the image [6]. Paper [7] studied on ways
to improve the resultant stego-image quality visually.
Improving the visual perception and quality levels is
directly proportional to the data confidentiality,
security and credibility. Pixel Value Differencing
(PVD) method was proposed by Wu & Tsai [8]. This
method proves to be the better and efficient way to
result in an output compared to that yielded by the
LSB methods of replacing bits. In other words, this
approach provides an easy way for an output that is
more imperceptible than those achieved with the
least significant amount. In this proposal, the original
cover image is not necessarily taken for the final
extraction of the credible data [8].
Steganalysis method using tri-way PVD approach is
discussed by Tseng & Leng [9] . This study diverged
fro m the conventional PVD technique in the new way
that its uses perfect square number [PSN]. This in
turn, improved the traditional technique. The secret
data which is to be concealed is embedded along with
the PSN. Liao and Wen in their paper .[10] proposed
ideas for advanced LSB techniques. The paper also
marked the development of four pixel differencing
method [16]. Another proposal was studied which
focused on the seven-directional PVD scheme [11]
for imp roving and enhancing the payload capacity.
Secret Data Extraction does not necessarily depend
on the original cover image for the decrypting
process. Co mpared to Wu and Tsai’s and Tseng and
Leng’s [8] schemes, th is scheme worked out
experiments to prove that the data encapsulating
capacity is improved in a much better way [11]. New
PVD techniques based on modulus functions were
also researched [12]. In paper [13], falling-off
boundary is researched and studied in an adaptive
approach. Pixel value management in the gray scale
range is proposed using an adaptive steganography
based on the modified technique of differencing the
pixel value ranges.
The involvement of Neural Networks in the PVD is
established in paper [14], which co mb ines the theme
of PVD scheme and Data Co mpression. A well
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Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication (ICCMC 2020)
IEEE Xplore Part Number:CFP20K25-ART; ISBN:978-1-7281-4889-2
secured and credible steganography is achieved by
applying neural network thesis on the Conventional
data encapsulating techniques . Neural Steganography
is an important and essential tool for co mmun icating
with the people. In this paper [15], secret data bits are
embedded into images pixels based on the color
plane reference using the LSB technique [16].
III. PROPOSED TECHNIQUE
This section proposes the ways for embed ment of
secret messages within the carrier RGB image.
As explained earlier, concealing secret data in the
edge pixels are way better than any other regions in
an image where a slight distortion is much more
visible, making the image less apparent to hackers
and intruders and thus improving security and credibi
lity.
A. CANNY EDGE DETECTION
Canny is one of the popular edge detection
algorith ms, which was invented by John Canny [17]
in 1986. The benefit o f Canny Edge detection is that
it can identify the edge of the original image with a
small error overlap in order to obtain the edge of the
ideal image. This detector has been widely used in
various image processing algorithms that require
edge detection. Edge detection efficiency is highly
dependent upon the threshold value used [18]. The
size of the Gaussian filter, a high threshold value, and
a low threshold value are the required parameters for
this algorith m. The output will be the same input
image and secret data. As a result, it would be
considerably unclear to uncover the workings of the
algorith m [18]. Based on Canny Algorith m, the edges
are identified first in order to obtain the correct and
true edges. The edge function of Canny calcu lates the
gradient using a Gaussian filter derivative. Strong
and weak edges are identified by this method using
threshold values. This also includes the weak edges
which are connected to strong edges. Hence on
comparing Canny Method with any other techniques
existing, it is likely to be skewed by the noise factor
and more ab le to find the real weak edge. Payload
Edge Detection technique the period of the given
images are essential. Based on three factors, low
threshold (Tl ), high threshold (Th ) and width of
Gaussian kernel, Canny algorith m outputs the edges
in an image. Gaussian kernel is an important factor as
978-1-7281-4889-2/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
well as step in the Algorithm to smoothen out the
image fro m unwanted noises as the first step of edge
finding. Horizontal, vertical and d iagonal edges are
detected using Canny Algorithm as the provided
image’s edge may have many directions. The
directions are hence found using the atan2 function
with the output horizontal and vertical filters.
ϴ=atan2(Gx,Gy) (1)
where Gx is the horizontal d irection and Gy is the
vertical d irection. As the next step to find the Non-
maximu m suppression, an edge-thinning technique is
applied. Hence the largest edge is detected. All the
gradient intensity values except Local Maxima are
suppressed by this step. The edge-finding algorith m
and the embedding algorith m are simu lated in
Matlab. Standard RGB images (Color) are used as
input for testing as well as embedding the secret
message.
a. ALGORITHM 1 - Canny:
Step 1-Start
Step 2- Browse and Input the image(Input image is in
RGB)
Step 3-Convolution with Gaussian Filter Coefficient
Step 4- Convolution with Canny Filter for Horizontal
and Vertical orientation.
Step 5- Calculate directions/ orientations using atan2
Step 6- Making all the directions positive by
adjusting the negative directions.
Step 7- Adjust to nearest 0, 45, 90, and 135 degree
Step 8- Calculate the magnitude
Step 9- Perform Non-Maximum Suppression
Step 10-Apply Hysteresis Thresholding
Step 11- Show final edge detection result
Step 12- Stop
B. PVD SCHEME
Image Steganography is the area which related to the
embed ment of secret texts within image Medias. Add
ing other data into pixels of image can cause alteratio
ns in the proportion of image. The PVD p roves to be
better than the LSB in terms of security and integrity.
Wu and Tsai discovered that the edge elements or
pixels can embed mo re amount of data co mpared to
any other regions in an image. Hence they proposed
the PVD (Pixel Value Differencing) method [19],
based on this principle. The underlying principle
behind is, an image is broken into many blocks. For
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Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication (ICCMC 2020)
IEEE Xplore Part Number:CFP20K25-ART; ISBN:978-1-7281-4889-2

each block the differences of the adjacent p ixels are

taken, data is concealed within them hence it is
altered to a new value[20]. The modifications on an
image is done by PVD is such a way that it does not
alter the grayscale proportion [20]. PVD is also used
for edged regions of an image to improve the pixel
quality.
The response of the human
vision to the gray value (0-255) ranges plays a
prominent role in the selection of pixel value range
determination [21]. Thus PVD scheme p roves to be
much better and easier way in terms of effect ive
output generation, as compared to simp le LSB
replacement methods [22]
Fig. 2. Proposed Flowchart
b. ALGORITHM 2 - PVD:

Step 1 - Start
Step 2 - Reading a secret text file
Step 3 - Read cover image(get image and separate
RGB values)
Step 4 - Select color red for embedding
Step 5 - Identify two blocks of pixels and find the
difference
a - Selecting range and Checking if any pixel
from block falls off boundary
b - Calculate quantization width of range
c - Calculate maximu m bit can be embedded
in 2 pixels
d - Calculate the maximu m capacity of the Fig. 3. Cover image (input)
cover image
i - Check if it exceeds the length of message
ii- Check if value exceeds the length of
message
iii- Check if value exceeds the length of
message
Step 6 - Create stego image
a- Check if value check if the cover is small
for the given message to be embedded
Step 7 - Read stego image
Step 8 - Select red color where the data is embedded
a - Check if any pixels falls off boundary
b - Identify two blocks of pixels
i - Calculate the difference
c - Test the boundary
i - Check if any pixel in a block fall off the Fig. 4. Edge detected image
boundary
d - Find quantization width of range and
calculate maximu m bit that can
be embedded between 2 pixel
e - Extraction of Message
Step 9 - Stop

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Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication (ICCMC 2020)
IEEE Xplore Part Number:CFP20K25-ART; ISBN:978-1-7281-4889-2
Fig. 5. Stego image
IV. CONCLUS ION
In this proposed paper work the steganographic
protection of data embed ment in an image is more
than other steganographic approaches .
This paper proposes an ideal approach of Image
steganography along with the combination of Edge
Detection Algorith m – Canny Algorith m and PVD
method. This method overcomes all the drawbacks
faced by the most commonly used Least Significant
Bit (LSB) method. In the proposed technique, the
fixed image size and the secret information are also
considered. The embedded text has double protection
than other methods as the text is being converted to
binary and stored into the edges of an image. Storing
in the edge p ixels prevent the loss of image quality.
This secret data is later embedded within the edge
pixels using PVD scheme . As a result, co mbin ing
these methods give this work more robustness and
security. Hence, it makes harder for attackers and
intruders to access the secret messages within the
image pixels.
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