Secure communication with joint resource allocation, relay and jammer selection in OFDM‐based cooperative networks

Abstract

SummaryThis paper considers an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based cooperative network, where a source node communicates with a destination node with the help of multiple intermediate nodes, in the presence of an eavesdropper. Each intermediate node is assumed to be able to act as a relay or a jammer to improve the physical layer security. The problem of joint subcarrier allocation, power allocation, and mode selection to maximize the sum secrecy rate is investigated. We first reformulate the problem of subcarrier allocation and intermediate node mode selection as a three‐sided matching game and propose an algorithm that achieves a stable matching. Then, the sum secrecy rate is further improved by proposing a heuristic algorithm to switch the modes of the intermediate nodes. Finally, an iterative power allocation algorithm is proposed. It is verified by simulation results that the proposed algorithm outperforms various benchmark algorithms such as the equal subcarrier allocation algorithm, the pure relay selection algorithm, and the random relay selection algorithm, especially when the transmit power limit is high and the number of intermediate nodes is large.