It is known, that coherent chaotic communication systems are more vulnerable to noise in the transmission channel than conventional communications. Among the methods of noise impact reduction, such as extended symbol length and various digital filtering algorithms, the optimization of the synchronization coefficient may appear as a very efficient and simple straightforward approach. However, finding the optimal coefficient for the synchronization of two chaotic oscillators is a challenging task due to the high sensitivity of chaos to any disturbances. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for finding the optimal synchronization parameter K_opt for a coherent chaos-based communication system affected by various noises with different signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). It is shown, that under certain conditions, optimal $K$ provides the lowest possible bit error rate (BER) during the transmission. In addition, we show that various metrics applied to the message demodulation task propose different noise immunity to the overall system. For the experimental part of the study, we simulated and physically prototyped two chaotic communication systems based on well-known Rossler and Lorenz chaotic oscillators. The microcontroller-based prototype of a chaotic communication system was developed to investigate the influence of noise in the real transmission channel. The experimental results obtained using the designed hardware testbench are in good correspondence with the theoretical propositions of the study and simulation results. The suggested evaluation metrics and optimization algorithms can be used in the design of advanced chaos-based communication systems with increased performance.

The synchronization of chaotic systems is a fundamental phenomenon in nonlinear dynamics. Most known synchronization techniques suggest that the trajectories of coupled systems converge at an exponential rate. However, this requires transferring a substantial data array to achieve complete synchronization between the master and slave oscillators. A recently developed approach, called time-reversible synchronization, has been shown to accelerate the convergence of trajectories. This approach is based on the special properties of time-symmetric integration. This technique allows for achieving the complete synchronization of discrete chaotic systems at a superexponential rate. However, the validity of time-reversible synchronization between discrete and continuous systems has remained unproven. In the current study, we expand the applicability of fast time-reversible synchronization to a case of digital and analog chaotic systems. A circuit implementation of the Sprott Case B was taken as an analog chaotic oscillator. Given that real physical systems possess more complicated dynamics than simplified models, analog system reidentification was performed to achieve a reasonable relevance between a discrete model and the circuit. The result of this study provides strong experimental evidence of fast time-reversible synchronization between analog and digital chaotic systems. This finding opens broad possibilities in reconstructing the phase dynamics of partially observed chaotic systems. Utilizing minimal datasets in such possible applications as chaotic communication, sensing, and system identification is a notable development of this research.

Computer simulation of continuous chaotic systems is usually performed using numerical methods. The discretization may introduce new properties into finite-difference models compared to their continuous prototypes and can therefore lead to new types of dynamical behavior exhibited by discrete chaotic systems. It is known that one can control the dynamics of a discrete system using a special class of integration methods. One of the applications of such a phenomenon is chaos-based communication systems, which have recently attracted attention due to their high covertness and broadband transmission capability. Proper modulation of chaotic carrier signals is one of the key problems in chaos-based communication system design. It is challenging to modulate and demodulate a chaotic signal in the same way as a conventional signal due to its noise-like shape and broadband characteristics. Therefore, the development of new modulation–demodulation techniques is of great interest in the field. One possible approach here is to use adaptive numerical integration, which allows control of the properties of the finite-difference chaotic model. In this study, we describe a novel modulation technique for chaos-based communication systems based on generalized explicit second-order Runge–Kutta methods. We use a specially designed test bench to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed modulation method and compare it with state-of-the-art solutions. Experimental results show that the proposed modulation technique outperforms the conventional parametric modulation method in both coverage and noise immunity. The obtained results can be efficiently applied to the design of advanced chaos-based communication systems as well as being used to improve existing architectures.