The 12th International Conference on

Computer Science & Education (ICCSE 2017)

August 22-25, 2017. University of Houston, USA ThB2.4

The Reconstitution of LCD Compromising

Emanations based on Wavelet Denoising

Liu -inming Zhang -iemin

1
School of Electron, National University of Defense Computer Engineering College,
Technology, Changsha, China Jimei University
2
Computer Engineering College, Jimei University xiamen, China
xiamen, China zhangjiemin@jmu.edu.cn
liujinming@jmu.edu.cn
Li <ongmei
Liu Taikang Computer Engineering College,
33 Research Institute, Jimei University
Electronic Technology Group Corporation xiamen, China
Taiyuan, China lym427@163.com
liutk@163.com

Abstract—Digital electronic equipment will emit unintentional The high quality of reconstruction image is important to assess
electromagnetic signals in working state includes LCD. The the protective effect and evaluate the leakage risk.
distinct reconstitution image of LCD compromising emanations
contributes directly to evaluate leakage risk. This study attempts A. The Scanning Mechanism of the Monitor
to promote the reconstitution quality of LCD compromising The LCD monitor are connected to PC via a video cable
emanations based on wavelet denoising method. The algorithm of such as VGA, in which pixel values for three colors, red, green
setting the wavelet decomposition level and the threshold has
and blue are transmitted from graphics card of PC. The
been developed to realize the reconstruction of LCD display
images automatically and accurately. mechanism of monitor is called “raster scanning”, that pixels
are scanned one by one from the left-top of the screen to the
Keywords—compromising emanations; wavelet denoising; right-bottom under the control of horizontal and vertical
image reconstruction synchronization signals. With the variety of RGB pixels all the
multi-media includes video, picture and text are all displayed.
Fig.1 illustrates the scanning mechanism of the monitor.
I. INTRODUCTION
In digital electronic equipment, all the data are translated
into binary code to process and transmit via bus, thus the
voltage in the bus switches alternatively all the time. The rise
and fall of voltage will result in pulse current and produce
electromagnetic wave at the same time [1-4,8]. LCD also emit
electromagnetic waves, which compromise the information
displayed by the computer, thereby enable eavesdropping. If
these electromagnetic waves are intercepted and reconstructed,
confidential information could be leaked. Known as
“compromising emanations,” such radio signals have been
studied and controlled by (still secret) emission-security
standards in some government applications since the 1960s. Fig.1 The working principle of the display monitor
The related technologies are called TEMPEST [5-7,10].
In recent years, some scholars began to pay close attention The change value of signal result in the fluctuation of signal
to the identification of the sources of electromagnetic voltage, and it will produce electromagnetic wave. The lines of
emanations. And some portable and low-cost eavesdropping red, green, blue emitted electromagnetic wave at the same time.
system was developed to detect electromagnetic emanation All the monitors are designed according the VESA (Video
signals [6]. But these papers pay more attention to the Electronics Standards Association) standard. This standard
detection of electromagnetic emanations but neglect the uplift includes all monitor timing standards. The horizontal
of the reconstruction image of LCD compromising emanations. synchronization signal of the common monitor refresh rate

978-1-5090-2508-4/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 294


ranges from 30 kHz to 200 kHz. The corresponding pixel
frequency ranges from 31.5MHz to 556MHz.
As a result, the eavesdropper can reconstruct an undistorted
black-and-white version of the displayed image: the sum of the
red, green, and blue components. But the clear reconstruct
image is not easy to get.
B. Instrumentation
The general method in the lab using universal apparatus,
spectrum analyzer and oscilloscope, to detect the
electromagnetic emanations and storage the waves, for further
process. A novel method is utilizing the virtual apparatus to
detect the electromagnetic emanation, and all the analyzing
processes are done by the control system[12]. Here we adopt the
latter method, use Ni PXIe-5162 to capture the waves from the
front sensor with high speed. Fig.2 shows the virtual apparatus
Ni PXIe-5162. But the original signal contains huge noise, as
shown in Fig.2.
Fig.2 Virtual Apparatus Ni PXIe-5162
Fig.3 Spectrum of one captured signal
C. Overview of Wavelet Denoising
Wavelet is a function derived from the mother wavelet via
scaling and shifting. And the mother wavelet is defined as:
+∞
³−∞
ȥ( t )dt = 0 (1)
+∞
³
2
ȥ( t ) dt = 1 (2)
−∞
That is the mother wavelet function satisfies the conditions
of zero mean and square norm one. And the wavelet,
sometimes called child wavelets, is defined as:
295
ThB2.4
1 t−b
ȥa ,b ( t ) = ȥ( ) (3)
a a
Where a is positive and defines the scale and b is any
real number and defines the shift.
Wavelet transform (WT) is defined as:
1 t −b
³ x( t )ȥ (
*
WTx ( a,b ) = )dt
a a
= ³ x( t )ȥ*a ,b ( t )dt =< x( t ),ȥa ,b ( t ) >
(4)
The wavelet transform is often compared with the Fourier
transform, in which signals are represented as a sum of
sinusoids. As the same, signals can be represented as sum of
wavelet base functions. Fig.4 shows a sinusoid signal can be
represented as a sum of Haar wavelets.
Fig.4 Sinusoid signal decomposed as multi Haar wavelets
In fact, the Fourier transform can be viewed as a special
case of the continuous wavelet transform with the choice of the
mother wavelet
ȥ( t ) = e −2ʌit.
The main difference in general is that wavelets are
localized in both time and frequency whereas the standard
Fourier transform is only localized in frequency. Fig.5 shows
the scaled down gradually Morlet wavelet and their
corresponding spectrum. It is very clear that the spectrum
distribute of wavelet is a curve not an impulse.
Fig.5 Morlet wavelet and their corresponding spectrum
Due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, a signal cannot
be concentrated in time domain and frequency domain
simultaneously. The time domain of the standard Fourier
transform is infinitesimal, so the accuracy frequency can be
achieved and the spectrum distribute of sinusoid is an impulse.
Otherwise, the frequency domain of the wavelet is small
section, so the time information can be hold as shown in Fig.6.
Wavelet transform has a distinctive characteristic of multi-
resolution analysis (MRA), it is developed by S.Mallat and
Y.Meyer based on the previous work in 1986,
 ThB2.4

emanations have the character of similarity partially and the

noise is randomly disputed.

Fig.6 the resolution of wavelet in time-frequency domain

Mallat propose a fast algorithm of multi resolution signal

j j
analysis in 1989, shown as Fig.7. The parameters a and d in
Fig.7 are discrete approximation coefficient in MRA. Actually, Fig.8 a’trous algorithm
many wavelet functions cannot be depicted as explicit function
The self-correlation function can describe the similarity
like formula (4), but they can be achieved through the filter
accurately. It is defined as:
constructing, and the calculation is much faster than Fourier ∞
transform.
rxx ( m ) = ¦ x( n )x( n + m )
m =−∞
(5)

Self-correlation function reflects the similarity between the

Fig.7 Mallat algorithm
Because the noise and signal have different properties in
wavelet domain, wavelet denoising is to reduce the coefficient
of noise and remain the signal coefficient as accurate as
possible.
Wavelet denoising consists of three basic steps: wavelet
decomposition, wavelet coefficients process, and wavelet
reconstruction. This denoising method mainly focus on the
wavelet coefficients treatment.
signal and its own delay. If the original signal is a periodical
signal then the self-correlation function would have the same
period. According to the conclusion, we put the original
compromising emanation signal into the wavelet
decomposition filters and use the self-correlation as the
criterion of decomposition level. If one of the wavelet
j j
coefficient a or d shown in Fig.8 has periodic feature in
self-correlation then the decomposition will continue,
otherwise the composition stop.
Fig.9 shows the self-correlation of wavelet coefficients in
different decompositions. In Fig.9a the self-correlation of
wavelet coefficients a1-a6 have clear periodic feature, while in
in Fig.9b the wavelet coefficients almost contain no periodic
feature, so the self-correlation do not have any interval pulse.

II. EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS

A. Data Holding and A’trous Algorithm

In the decomposition process, the data will be reduced by
half after the down sampling. Therefore the data will deduce
very quickly, and the information, the signal carried, will lose
at the same time unfortunately. Without enough information
the reconstructed image would be inexplicit. This deviates
greatly from the target of denoising.
Here we adopt the a’trous algorithm shown in Fig.8 to
avoid the data reducing. Due to the equivalence of Z transform,
a’trous algorithm put the down sampling at each step together
at the final step and guarantee the data quantity is the same
when put into every filter.
B. The Wavelet Decomposition and Denoising
The judgment of wavelet decomposing level must be made
at first, and it is depend on the original signal. The mechanism (a)
of LCD shown in Fig.1 is periodically scanned. So we can
assume presumably that the signals of LCD compromising

296

(b)
Fig.9 Self-correlation of wavelet coefficients
The wavelet threshold denoising method is adopted here. If
the self-correlation of wavelet coefficient is periodic, then
threshold c = 1, otherwise c = 0.
­1 a j ,d j periodic
c=®
¯0
C. The Image Reconstruction
After the wavelet decomposition, denoising based on hard
threshold , reconstruction, and arraying the one-dimensional
signal into double-dimension according the VESA standard,
the denoised image of LCD compromising emanations can be
achieved. Fig.10 shows the image without wavelet denoising,
Fig.11 shows the image with three wavelet decomposing and
denoising, Fig.12 shows the image with six wavelet
decomposing and denoising. It is obviously that the
reconstructed image is clearer with more wavelet decomposing
and denoising, and the most of oblique stripe noise is
suppressed.
Fig.10 image without wavelet denoising
Fig. 11 image with three wavelet decomposition
ThB2.4
Fig.12 image with six wavelet decomposition
III. CONCLUSIONS
This paper focuses on the promote the reconstitution
quality of LCD compromising emanations. The proposed
algorithm of the wavelet decomposition and denoising is
effective and it can suppress part of the noise. But the noise of
(6)
electromagnetic emanations is very complex, no all the noise
can be suppressed, the denoising method needs to be improved.
REFERENCES
Van Eck. Electromagnetic Radiation from Video Display Units:
[1]
An Eavesdropping Risk? Computer & Security 4, 269–286 ,
1985.
[2] Hidema Tanaka. Information Leakage Via Electromagnetic
Emanations and Evaluation of Tempest Countermeasures [C]// P.
McDaniel and S.K.Gupta (Eds.): ICISS 2007, Springer Berlin
Heidelberg, LNCS 4812, pp.167–179, 2007.
[3] T. Tominaga, M. Masugi. Overview of Electromagnetic Wave
Security Guidelines. [R] ITU-T/SG5, TD143, pp. 1-11, Jun.
2005
[4] Markus G. Kuhn. Electromagnetic Eavesdropping Risks of Flat-
Panel Displays. D. Martin and A. Serjantov (Eds.): PET 2004,
LNCS 3424, pp. 88 ̽107, 2005.
[5] Liu Jinming, Mao Jian , Zhang Jiemin, Li Yongmei, The
Designing of TEMPEST Security Testing Model,
TELKOMNIKA Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering
12, no. 2 (2014), pp. 866-871.
[6] Liu jinming, Mao Jian, Trigger of TEMPEST Testing Standard
Update, The 10th International Conference on Computer
Science & Education . Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
University, UK, [s. n.] 2015:355-358.
[7] Liu Taikang, Li Yongmei, EM Information Leakage and
Countermeasure Technique, National Defence Industry
Press,2015
[8] Zhuang L, Zhou F, Tygar J D. Keyboard acoustic
emanationsrevisited. 1515 Broadway, 17th Floor, New York,
NY 10036-5701, United States: Association for Computing
Machinery,2009
[9] TEMPEST standards overview [EB/OL]
http://www.sst.ws/downloads/TEMPEST_Standards_overview_
iss_4.pdf 2013.02
[10] Hu Guangshu, Modern signal processing tutorial, Tsinghua
university press, 2004.
[11] Liu jinming, Peiguo Liu, Jian Mao, A Detecting Method of
Electromagnetic Emanations Based on Virtual Instrument, IEEE
IAEAC2017, p2271-2274.
297