Abdul Ghafoor
Current Organizations / Institutes
The organizations/institutes from the scholar's latest article
Previous Organizations / Institutes
The organizations / institutes from the scholar's other articles in the past ten years
Abdul Ghafoor has a total of 109 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:
- Muhammad Mohsin Riaz
COMSATS University, Islamabad, Pakistan
35 shared publications M. Mohsin Riaz
Center for Advanced Studies in Telecommunication (CAST), Islamabad, Pakistan
11 shared publicationsMuhammad Mohsin Riaz
COMSATS University Islamabad Pakistan
11 shared publications- Victor Sreeram
School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering University of Western Australia Perth Australia
11 shared publications - Syed Sohaib Ali
COMSATS University, Islamabad, Pakistan
9 shared publications Attiq Ahmad
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Islamabad Pakistan
7 shared publications
Latest Publications
- 6 November 2026
- Published by Springer Nature
- p. 260-279
Rational-Function Transformation-Based S-Boxes over $\mathbb {F}_{2^8}$ with Full-Cycle Structure and Desirable Diffusion Indicators- 6 November 2026
- Published by Springer Nature
- p. 260-279
Rational-Function Transformation-Based S-Boxes over $\mathbb {F}_{2^8}$ with Full-Cycle Structure and Desirable Diffusion Indicators- Open Access
- 30 October 2026
- Published by MDPI AG in Cryptography
- Vol. 10 (6) , 79
A Model-Based Empirical Advantage Estimation Framework for Chaos-Based Random Bit Generators
Chaos-based random bit generators are commonly evaluated using statistical randomness tests and entropy, which do not directly quantify an adversarial distinguishing advantage. For the chaos-based RBGs evaluated in this study, no reduction-style cryptographic security proof is claimed. This paper proposes a model-based empirical advantage estimation framework. The proposed empirical threshold combines Lyapunov-based residual distinguishability with extractor-dependent residual distinguishability; its additive form is motivated by a total variation distance (TVD) decomposition, while both terms are empirically defined rather than direct TVD estimates. The framework is evaluated using a logistic map-based RBG under non-chaotic, weak-chaotic, and strong-chaotic regimes. Validation uses a separate dataset and operating-system reference streams; however, eight of sixteen validation functions evaluate statistical properties also used in estimating , so separation is through separate datasets, reference sets, and thresholds rather than complete feature independence. For the logistic map-based RBG, the empirical criterion is satisfied. Additional chaos-based RBGs yield varying validation outcomes. The framework complements standard randomness testing with a proposed empirical threshold for comparison with the maximum observed empirical advantage under selected finite-sample distinguishers and the stated experimental setup; it does not provide a proven upper bound on arbitrary adversarial advantage.- 30 October 2026
- Published by MDPI AG in Cryptography
- Vol. 10 (6) , 79
Open AccessA Model-Based Empirical Advantage Estimation Framework for Chaos-Based Random Bit Generators
Chaos-based random bit generators are commonly evaluated using statistical randomness tests and entropy, which do not directly quantify an adversarial distinguishing advantage. For the chaos-based RBGs evaluated in this study, no reduction-style cryptographic security proof is claimed. This paper proposes a model-based empirical advantage estimation framework. The proposed empirical threshold combines Lyapunov-based residual distinguishability with extractor-dependent residual distinguishability; its additive form is motivated by a total variation distance (TVD) decomposition, while both terms are empirically defined rather than direct TVD estimates. The framework is evaluated using a logistic map-based RBG under non-chaotic, weak-chaotic, and strong-chaotic regimes. Validation uses a separate dataset and operating-system reference streams; however, eight of sixteen validation functions evaluate statistical properties also used in estimating , so separation is through separate datasets, reference sets, and thresholds rather than complete feature independence. For the logistic map-based RBG, the empirical criterion is satisfied. Additional chaos-based RBGs yield varying validation outcomes. The framework complements standard randomness testing with a proposed empirical threshold for comparison with the maximum observed empirical advantage under selected finite-sample distinguishers and the stated experimental setup; it does not provide a proven upper bound on arbitrary adversarial advantage. - Open Access
- 29 September 2026
- Published by MDPI AG in Cryptography
- Vol. 10 (5) , 72
Full-Cycle 8 × 8 S-Box from Bijective Trims of a 9D APN Permutation with Coordinate-Optimized DSAC and BIC
This paper presents an S-box construction based on bijective trims of the compositional inverse of a nine-dimensional quadratic APN permutation. An exhaustive evaluation of 1,566,726 parameter combinations yields 3066 bijective trims, all with differential uniformity 4, vectorial nonlinearity 112, maximum linear bias and Boolean algebraic degree 5. The selected representative S-box exhibits desirable cryptographic and structural properties, including algebraic immunity 4, full-cycle permutation behavior, absence of fixed and opposite fixed points, and practical implementation feasibility. A randomized linear-conjugation search enables the selection of a coordinate-optimized representation with lower DSAC and BIC than the canonical AES byte mapping under the adopted measures. In the matched one-million-matrix control, however, 22,911 AES conjugates (2.2911%) and only one conjugate (0.0001%) of the fixed retained trim satisfied both selected thresholds, so the experiment does not establish an advantage over AES under the same coordinate-optimization search. The selected S-box achieves a single cycle of length 256, mean SAC of 128.125, DSAC of 392, BIC of 0.129412, and maximum differential probability . Compared with the AES S-box, the selected matches its differential uniformity, vectorial nonlinearity, and maximum linear bias, while its Boolean algebraic degree is 5, compared with 7 for AES, and its boomerang uniformity is 18 compared with 6 for AES. For direct construction-based software evaluation, the proposed required approximately 2.06 times the execution time of the AES direct-arithmetic implementation on the tested platform, reflecting an implementation-specific trade-off for on-the-fly computation.- 29 September 2026
- Published by MDPI AG in Cryptography
- Vol. 10 (5) , 72
Open AccessFull-Cycle 8 × 8 S-Box from Bijective Trims of a 9D APN Permutation with Coordinate-Optimized DSAC and BIC
This paper presents an S-box construction based on bijective trims of the compositional inverse of a nine-dimensional quadratic APN permutation. An exhaustive evaluation of 1,566,726 parameter combinations yields 3066 bijective trims, all with differential uniformity 4, vectorial nonlinearity 112, maximum linear bias and Boolean algebraic degree 5. The selected representative S-box exhibits desirable cryptographic and structural properties, including algebraic immunity 4, full-cycle permutation behavior, absence of fixed and opposite fixed points, and practical implementation feasibility. A randomized linear-conjugation search enables the selection of a coordinate-optimized representation with lower DSAC and BIC than the canonical AES byte mapping under the adopted measures. In the matched one-million-matrix control, however, 22,911 AES conjugates (2.2911%) and only one conjugate (0.0001%) of the fixed retained trim satisfied both selected thresholds, so the experiment does not establish an advantage over AES under the same coordinate-optimization search. The selected S-box achieves a single cycle of length 256, mean SAC of 128.125, DSAC of 392, BIC of 0.129412, and maximum differential probability . Compared with the AES S-box, the selected matches its differential uniformity, vectorial nonlinearity, and maximum linear bias, while its Boolean algebraic degree is 5, compared with 7 for AES, and its boomerang uniformity is 18 compared with 6 for AES. For direct construction-based software evaluation, the proposed required approximately 2.06 times the execution time of the AES direct-arithmetic implementation on the tested platform, reflecting an implementation-specific trade-off for on-the-fly computation. - Open Access
- 1 January 2026
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Access
- p. 1
A Cascading Framework for Integrating Chaotic Maps and Generating Complex Dynamics
- 1 January 2026
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Access
- p. 1
Open AccessA Cascading Framework for Integrating Chaotic Maps and Generating Complex Dynamics
- 27 October 2025
- Published by Springer Nature in Cluster Computing
- Vol. 28 (16) , 1-15
Digital twins enabled privacy preserving remote vital signs monitoring
- 27 October 2025
- Published by Springer Nature in Cluster Computing
- Vol. 28 (16) , 1-15
Digital twins enabled privacy preserving remote vital signs monitoring
- 11 July 2024
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Communications Letters
- Vol. 28 (12) , 2705-2708
Adaptive Successive Cancellation List Decoding for Polar-Coded Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping
The multi-level coding-based Polar-coded Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping (PAS) involves a pre-coding step for systematic encoding. Due to this, the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) at the receiver is available only post-decoding of all the bit-levels; this delays the CRC-based adaptive list-size decision. Therefore, the presented approach utilizes PAS symbol distribution for individual bit-level path-checks that can determine the insufficiency of a list-size at an early stage. Also, our system model involves the necessary Polar-coded PAS design modifications to enable the Block partition labeling. We compare the average decoding complexity and the Frame error-rate performance with other real-time list-size decision approaches. Furthermore, we show that in comparison with the adaptive CRC-aided successive cancellation list decoding, our proposed algorithm shows 27% less average latency while achieving better error correction performance for short block-lengths.
- 11 July 2024
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Communications Letters
- Vol. 28 (12) , 2705-2708
Adaptive Successive Cancellation List Decoding for Polar-Coded Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping
The multi-level coding-based Polar-coded Probabilistic Amplitude Shaping (PAS) involves a pre-coding step for systematic encoding. Due to this, the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) at the receiver is available only post-decoding of all the bit-levels; this delays the CRC-based adaptive list-size decision. Therefore, the presented approach utilizes PAS symbol distribution for individual bit-level path-checks that can determine the insufficiency of a list-size at an early stage. Also, our system model involves the necessary Polar-coded PAS design modifications to enable the Block partition labeling. We compare the average decoding complexity and the Frame error-rate performance with other real-time list-size decision approaches. Furthermore, we show that in comparison with the adaptive CRC-aided successive cancellation list decoding, our proposed algorithm shows 27% less average latency while achieving better error correction performance for short block-lengths.
- 12 February 2024
- Published by Springer Nature in Multimedia Tools and Applications
- Vol. 83 (29) , 72727-72744
Unveiling underwater structures: pyramid saliency detection via homomorphic filtering
- 12 February 2024
- Published by Springer Nature in Multimedia Tools and Applications
- Vol. 83 (29) , 72727-72744
Unveiling underwater structures: pyramid saliency detection via homomorphic filtering
- 24 January 2024
- Published by Springer Nature in Multimedia Tools and Applications
- Vol. 83 (25) , 65737-65752
Content-based face image retrieval using quaternion based local diagonal extreme value pattern
- 24 January 2024
- Published by Springer Nature in Multimedia Tools and Applications
- Vol. 83 (25) , 65737-65752
Content-based face image retrieval using quaternion based local diagonal extreme value pattern
- 19 October 2023
- Published by Springer Nature in Multimedia Tools and Applications
- Vol. 83 (15) , 44955-44978
Privacy preserving content based image retrieval
- 19 October 2023
- Published by Springer Nature in Multimedia Tools and Applications
- Vol. 83 (15) , 44955-44978
Privacy preserving content based image retrieval
- 8 January 2023
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- p. 1129-1134
Trusted Platform for Disruptive Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks using Distributed Ledger Technology
Traffic safety applications and other communication systems for vehicles together with data collection sensors have the potential to improve road safety. For this to be viable however, it is important that the data collection and communication can be trusted so that erroneous or malicious data does not impact the use cases of the applications. This paper studies current and upcoming solutions to such problems and how they can be modified and applied to meet both technical requirements as well as the needs of relevant stakeholders. The paper defines the TruVeLedger framework using technology from the fields of distributed ledgers and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) to create a trusted platform. The paper considers the viability of different approaches to such a platform as well as defining a verifiable trusted communication protocol for vehicular networks.
- 8 January 2023
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- p. 1129-1134
Trusted Platform for Disruptive Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks using Distributed Ledger Technology
Traffic safety applications and other communication systems for vehicles together with data collection sensors have the potential to improve road safety. For this to be viable however, it is important that the data collection and communication can be trusted so that erroneous or malicious data does not impact the use cases of the applications. This paper studies current and upcoming solutions to such problems and how they can be modified and applied to meet both technical requirements as well as the needs of relevant stakeholders. The paper defines the TruVeLedger framework using technology from the fields of distributed ledgers and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) to create a trusted platform. The paper considers the viability of different approaches to such a platform as well as defining a verifiable trusted communication protocol for vehicular networks.