One-way coupled map lattices are used for cryptography in secure communication, based on spatiotemporal chaos synchronization. The sensitivity of synchronization between the encryption and decryption systems can be adjusted by varying the system size. With a suitable parameter combination, the cryptosystem can reach optimal trade-off of security and performance, i.e., it shows high security (resistant against the public-structure and known-plaintext attacks) together with fast encryption (and decryption) speed. An experiment of duplex voice transmission through university network is realized, which confirms the above advantages of our approach.

• Received 16 August 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.66.065202