This study proposes a new energy-efficient and high data-rated communication technique by combining media-based modulation (MBM) anddifferential chaos shift keying technique (DCSK), called DCSK–MBM. The MBM technique, which forms the infrastructure of this proposed system, is one ofthe newest members of the index modulation family, while DCSK offers considerable performance improvements for fading channels. Communicationcomprises two stages in the DCSK system. In the first stage, only the reference symbol is transmitted to the receiver side, whereas in the secondstage, information is carried along with the reference symbol. The negative aspect of this method is that it reduces both transmission data rate andspectral efficiency. The MBM technique provides a significant increase in both spectral efficiency and data rate because it performs index modulationwith reconfigurable antennas and transmits extra information bits. To minimize the disadvantages of the DCSK technique and create a more energyefficient and high data-rated technique, the MBM technique is combined with the DCSK technique. Thus, considerable progress is made. All performanceanalyses are performed over Rayleigh fading channels for M-ary phase shift keying/quadrature amplitude modulation