The paper deals with one of the most challenging application in the field of chaos theory: the chaotic communication. A new model of a programmable device for chaos generation, oriented to chaotic communications, will be reported, together with some examples. The basic building blocks of the circuit, synthesized by using a 0.5 mu m CMOS technology, are described as well as their design, characteristics and functionality. Several chaotic dynamics are obtained by selecting a set of digital parameters. A chaotic communication scheme, which is based on the inverse system synchronization method, is finally described, and a brief overview of possible application fields, engineering challenges and issues will be carried out.