Toward Gbps security-enhanced long-distance underwater wireless optical communication enabled by game of life-aided DNA encoding

In this paper, a novel, to our knowledge, security-enhanced long-distance and high-speed underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) system based on high-adaptability deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) encoding encryption is proposed. The control parameters for DNA encryption are generated by a six-dimensional multi-scroll hyperchaotic map (6D-MSHM) function, which exhibits complex dynamics of bifurcation and chaos with high security performance. To further improve diffusion and randomness within the encryption process, a game of life (GOL) model is constructed to generate the diffusion sequence. The randomness, encryption complexity, and security of the UWOC system are significantly enhanced due to the utilization of six variable post_keys (key space as high as ∼10 261 ). The experimental results show that the bit error rate (BER) performance of the encrypted UWOC system is nearly identical to that of its unencrypted counterpart, and a 105 m/2.5 Gbps security-enhanced UWOC link is experimentally demonstrated with the BER below the hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) threshold of 3.8×10 −3 . Security analysis confirms that even a tiny deviation (on the order of 10 −15 ) from the correct decryption key prevents any unauthorized eavesdropper from recovering the transmitted data or image information. Furthermore, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed DNA-encrypted UWOC system in the bubble-induced turbulent water channel with scintillation index (SI) values of 1.52×10 −3 and 2.13×10 −3 are also verified. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Gbps-class UWOC experimental encryption demonstration in >100m transmission that has ever been reported. The proposed GOL-aided DNA encryption scheme shows significant promise for enabling secure, long-reach, and high-speed UWOC systems.