FPGA implementation of DWT for Audio Watermarking Application

Abstract—Digital water marking is a technique of embedding extra information into the multimedia content, which can be extracted to prove the copy rights. Compared to human visual system, audio system is more sensitive. As a result very few audio watermarking algorithms have been robust and imperceptible. In this paper we are implementing audio watermarking using discrete wavelet transform (DWT). An audio signal in the form of .wav file is decomposed into multi level DWT coefficients. A watermark signal is embedded in the final level coefficients. The audio is reconstructed from the embedded co-efficient using inverse DWT. The simulation results will be verified by comparing watermarked audio with the original audio for its perceptibility. The watermarked audio will be tested for its robustness towards retaining watermark. Computation of DWT involves large number of arithmetic operations. Hence, a hardware chip for the same would help in achieving real time performance, low power consumption and lesser area utilization. This hardware implementation through FPGA eases the integration of watermarking feature with the existing audio electronic systems. Keyword DWT, discrete wavelet transform, audio watermarking, digital watermarking, copyright protection