Hierarchical multilevel authentication system for multiple-image based on phase retrieval and basic vector operations

A hierarchical multilevel authentication system for multiple-image based on phase retrieval and basic vector operations in the Fresnel domain is proposed, by which more certification images are iteratively encoded into multiple cascaded phase masks according to different hierarchical levels. Based on the secret sharing algorithm by basic vector decomposition and composition operations, the iterated phase distributions are split into n pairs of shadow images keys (SIKs), and then distributed to n different participants (the authenticators). During each level in the high authentication process, any 2 or more participants can be gathered to reconstruct the original meaningful certification images. While in the case of each level in the low authentication process, only one authenticator who possesses a correct pair of SIKs, will gain no significant information of certification image; however, it can result in a remarkable peak output in the nonlinear correlation coefficient of the recovered image and the standard certification image, which can successfully provide an additional authentication layer for the high-level authentication. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations both verify the feasibility of the proposed method. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.