# Secure Image Transmission Using Multilevel Chaotic Encryption and Video Steganography
###### Abstract
Chaos maps are known to be an efficient key stream, as they are susceptible to initial conditions, cannot deform around the given initial conditions, and are also irreversibly produced, making them suitable for cryptographic purposes [6]. In particular, it has been found that some chaos systems, approximated as extended chaotic neural networks in such reasonable regions, are also used to efficiently improve their flexibility and randomness with the development of secure communication [11]. Inspired by these developments, this study proposes a secure image encryption scheme based on multilevel chaotic maps and the AES algorithm. The hybrid system seeks to address the vulnerabilities presented by conventional cryptographic methods, as it improves entropy, augments key space diversity, and the level of resistance toward statistical and brute-force attacks. The system provides relatively high unpredictability, guaranteeing real-time dynamics and computational efficiency, and is suitable for real-time multimedia applications. This paper proposes an image encryption algorithm combining the chaos system and the AES algorithm. First, we build the encryption key chaotic system and then encrypt the image using the suggested algorithm [6]. The incorporated multilevel chaos, AES, and steganography is called MCC/AES/Stego. We include the encryption mechanism in this research and divide the image to be encoded into blocks. Each block is treated separately, whether for encryption or to include it in video frames, which provides quality and efficiency. With AES encryption algorithms, the information becomes encrypted and unreadable without the correct key, as the pixel values within each block are encrypted. After dividing the video into frames, we treat these frames as separate images [12]. The frames are selected using the LSB (Least Significant Bit) algorithm and the perfect pocket curve [13]. Then, the frames containing the encoded information are collected to extract the encoded image [14]. The contributions of this research are as follows:Developing a cryptographic key generation system using multilevel chaotic maps and dynamic equations. This system will ensure high randomness of the generated and statistically validated keys, outperforming traditional key generators. 2. Producing a hybrid security framework that enhances resistance to differential, statistical, and brute-force attacks by intelligently combining the generated chaotic keys with the encryption algorithm AES. 3. Designing a robust hybrid layered encryption and steganography system that utilizes dynamic selection of video frames and adaptive LSB steganography to achieve an optimal balance between security and undetectability. 4. The proposed system's effectiveness is proven through a comprehensive evaluation of entropy analysis (7.99), pixel change ratio (NPCR > 99.63%), and normalized average change density (UACI > 31.98). The paper is organized as follows: The Section 2 reviews the literature. The Section 3 explains the Methods and Materials. The Section 4 details the system framework including the key generation system, image encryption-decryption, video segmentation, and steganography. The Section 5 presents the results of testing and compares the suggested and applied methods. Finally, the Section 6 discusses the steganographic capacity analysis, and the Section 8 provides the conclusions.