Applications of Catalan numbers and Lattice Path combinatorial problem in cryptography

This paper analyzes the properties of Catalan numbers and their relation to the Lattice Path combinatorial problem in cryptography. Specifically, analyzes the application of the appropriate combinatorial problem based on Catalan-key in encryption and decryption of files and plaintext. Accordingly, we use Catalan numbers for generating keys and within the experimental part we have applied the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) statistical battery of tests for assessing the quality of generated keys was applied. A total of 12 quality assurance tests for Catalan-key were applied. A Java application is presented which allows the encryption and decryption of plaintext based on the generated Catalan-key and combinatorial problem of movement in integer network or Lattice Path. Experimental study yields the comparison of results in text encryption speed for combinatorial encryption methods (such as: Ballot Problem, Stack permutations and Balanced Parentheses) in comparison with Lattice Path method (in Java programming language).