Synchronization of Chaotic Buck Converters via Control-Signal Injection

Chaos, characterized by a broad spectrum, aperiodic, unpredictable behavior, and sensitivity to initial conditions, has been widely studied as a potential candidate for secure data transmission. Switching voltage converters (SVCs) are well known for their ability to exhibit nonlinear and, more specifically, chaotic behavior. In contrast to conventional approaches that seek to eliminate chaotic behavior in switching voltage converters, this work proposes exploiting such behavior to generate chaotic oscillations for further use in authentication and physical-layer security systems. However, reliable data recovery in a converter-based chaotic communication system requires synchronization between the transmitter and receiver converters operating in the chaotic regime. This work demonstrates the leader–follower synchronization of chaotic buck converters via control-signal injection using both SPICE simulations and laboratory experiments, contributing to the experimental investigation of chaotic power electronics. Simulation and experimental results confirm synchronization of chaotic buck converters using the proposed method, achieving a high correlation (>0.8) between the output waveforms. Furthermore, the analysis of the effect of noise in the synchronization channel demonstrates that converters remain highly correlated for SNR values down to 20 dB, suggesting their potential applicability to chaos-based communication systems. The proposed method achieves synchronization at the expense of the follower converter’s output-voltage regulation capability and requires both converters to share a common clock source, motivating future research on integrated synchronization and control strategies.