We report on the finding of hidden hyperchaos in a 5D extension to a known 3D self-exciting homopolar disc dynamo. The hidden hyperchaos is identified through three positive Lyapunov exponents under the condition that the proposed model has just two stable equilibrium states in certain regions of parameter space. The new 5D hyperchaotic self-exciting homopolar disc dynamo has multiple attractors including point attractors, limit cycles, quasi-periodic dynamics, hidden chaos or hyperchaos, as well as coexisting attractors. We use numerical integrations to create the phase plane trajectories, produce bifurcation diagram, and compute Lyapunov exponents to verify the hidden attractors. Because no unstable equilibria exist in two parameter regions, the system has a multistability and six kinds of complex dynamic behaviors. To the best of our knowledge, this feature has not been previously reported in any other high-dimensional system. Moreover, the 5D hyperchaotic system has been simulated using a specially designed electronic circuit and viewed on an oscilloscope, thereby confirming the results of the numerical integrations. Both Matlab and the oscilloscope outputs produce similar phase portraits. Such implementations in real time represent a new type of hidden attractor with important consequences for engineering applications.

Chaotic systems without equilibrium are of interest because they are the systems with hidden attractors. A nonequilibrium system with chaos is introduced in this work. Chaotic behavior of the system is verified by phase portraits, Lyapunov exponents, and entropy. We have implemented a real electronic circuit of the system and reported experimental results. By using this new chaotic system, we have constructed S-boxes which are applied to propose a novel image encryption algorithm. In the designed encryption algorithm, three S-boxes with strong cryptographic properties are used for the sub-byte operation. Particularly, the S-box for the sub-byte process is selected randomly. In addition, performance analyses of S-boxes and security analyses of the encryption processes have been presented.

This paper reports about a novel three-dimensional chaotic system with three nonlinearities. The system has one stable equilibrium, two stable equilibria and one saddle node, two saddle foci and one saddle node for different parameters. One salient feature of this novel system is its multiple attractors caused by different initial values. With the change of parameters, the system experiences mono-stability, bi-stability, mono-periodicity, bi-periodicity, one strange attractor, and two coexisting strange attractors. The complex dynamic behaviors of the system are revealed by analyzing the corresponding equilibria and using the numerical simulation method. In addition, an electronic circuit is given for implementing the chaotic attractors of the system. Using the new chaotic system, an S-Box is developed for cryptographic operations. Moreover, we test the performance of this produced S-Box and compare it to the existing S-Box studies.