Symbolic representations of controlled chaotic orbits produced by signal ge
nerators can be used for communicating. In this Letter, communicating with
chaos is investigated by using more realistic dynamical systems described b
y two-dimensional invertible maps. The major difficulty is how to specify a
generating partition so that a good symbolic dynamics can be defined. A so
lution is proposed whereby hyperbolic chaotic saddles embedded in the attra
ctor are exploited for digital encoding. Issues addressed include the chann
el capacity and noise immunity when these saddles are utilized for communic
ation. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.