A Cryptographic Perspective to Achieve Practical Physical Layer Security

Abstract

Communications, wired and wireless, have integrated various cryptographic techniques to ensure privacy and counter surveillance. These techniques have been integrated in most of the network layers, except for the physical layer. This physical layer has, thus far, dealt with schemes such as source coding, channel coding, and (de)modulation, to enable the transmission of data in a reliable and efficient manner. The emergence of physical layer security extends the functionalities at the physical layer to include secure communication, aiming at the transmission of a signal that can only be correctly retrieved by the intended receiver. Therefore, the goals of physical layer security align with cryptographic schemes utilized at the other network layers. From the extensive study of physical layer security schemes, we have observed that there is a knowledge gap regarding certain security principles practiced by cryptographers and the experts within physical layer security, causing many physical layer security schemes to be impractical for standardization and the wide-scale integration into information and communication technologies. This paper describes a variety of security principles and concepts, practiced by cryptographers, and of importance to physical layer security experts. We aim to raise the awareness of these security principles and concepts to experts within the field of physical layer security to improve the practicality, standardization, and integration potential of the design of future physical layer security schemes.