Q-ary Piecewise Linear Noise Modulation

A modulation technique used to embed a message derived from an alphabet of q symbols in a real-valued Gaussian noise sequence is presented. The modulation produces a sequence with a maximum minimum distance property to promote reliable message recovery. This work is an extension of a binary modulation method developed for data hiding using digital images as cover data. Since the modulated sequence possesses Gaussian properties, is typically low power and exposed to noise from the cover, it is difficult for unintended receivers to detect or accurately extract the hidden message.