Physical Layer Security Performance Research Articles

Integrated beamforming and trajectory optimization algorithm for RIS-assisted UAV system

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have garnered considerable research interest in the fields of 5G and 6G wireless communication due to their remarkable flexibility and cost-effectiveness. However, the inherent openness of wireless communication environments renders these technologies vulnerable to eavesdropping. This paper presents a penalty-based successive convex approximation algorithm and a minorize–maximization algorithm to optimize the transmission beamforming vector, RIS beamforming vector, and UAV–RIS trajectory. The objective of this study was to enhance the physical layer security performance of wireless communication systems using UAVs and RISs. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed technique achieves a higher security transmission rate compared to existing techniques.

On the physical layer security performance of full‐duplex cooperative NOMA system with multiple eavesdroppers, imperfect SIC and hardware imperfections

AbstractIn this letter, we propose a control jammer‐assisted framework for improving the physical layer security (PLS) of full‐duplex (FD) ‐ cooperative non‐orthogonal multiple access (FD‐CNOMA) network. We derive analytical expressions for the secrecy outage probabilities (SOPs) of the users for the jammer‐assisted and the no‐jammer scenarios, considering multiple non‐colluding eavesdroppers, residual hardware impairments and imperfect successive interference cancellation conditions. It is demonstrated that the proposed jammer‐assisted framework provides significant reduction of the SOPs experienced by the downlink users in FD‐CNOMA network.

Full‐duplex jamming for physical layer security improvement in NOMA‐enabled overlay cognitive radio networks

AbstractIn this paper, we analyze the physical layer security (PLS) performance of nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA)‐enabled overlay cognitive radio networks (NOMA‐OCRNs) in the presence of an external passive eavesdropper. Here PLS is expressed in terms of the secrecy outage probabilities (SOPs) experienced by the primary user (PU) and secondary user (SU). We obtain approximate expressions for the SOPs of both PU as well as SU assuming a jamming‐free environment, where both primary and secondary destination nodes are half‐duplex devices. To improve the SOP performance, we propose a jamming‐assisted framework, where full‐duplex destination nodes are employed, which are capable of transmitting jamming signals to confound the eavesdropper. Approximate expressions for the SOPs of PU and SU are derived for the jamming‐assisted framework as well. It is demonstrated that the proposed jamming‐assisted framework significantly reduces the SOPs compared to the jamming‐free scenario. We also determine optimal power allocation coefficients (OPACs) for PU and SU at the secondary transmitter that maximizes the total secrecy throughput of the jamming‐assisted NOMA‐OCRN with FD destinations. It is shown that the suggested OPAC significantly enhances the total secrecy throughput, compared to the default selection of the PAC.

Physical Layer Security in IRS-Assisted Cache-Enabled Satellite Communication Networks

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the physical layer security performance of a cache-enabled satellite communication network that incorporates intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS) in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. In the proposed system, content caches are deployed at both the ground station and the satellite, which can improve system performance by reducing latency and transmission overhead. Moreover, the use of IRS provides an additional layer of security by enabling the manipulation of the reflected signals to impede eavesdropping. Practical channel models are used to derive connection probability and secrecy probability for both the ground station-IRS-user and the satellite-IRS-user links. The obtained results are then used to evaluate the system’s secure transmission probability, which is maximized subject to the caching probabilities and transmission rate constraints. The paper presents numerical results to demonstrate the accuracy of the analysis and the effectiveness of deploying IRS and caching to support secure content delivery. The findings provide valuable insights into the potential benefits of utilizing IRS and caching technologies in satellite communication networks for improved physical layer security.

Enhanced Physical Layer Security and PAPR Performance Based on Disturbance of Data Cluster Under Chaotic Sequence Color Seeking Mechanism in CO- OFDM System

This study proposes a physical layer encryption scheme based on disturbance of data cluster under color seeking mechanism of chaotic sequence which is generated by Brownian motion determined by keys aiming to improve security of coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) system. Chaotic sequences with good randomness and unpredictability are endowed with a unique color composed of two primary colors and go through order transformation by sorting and seeking, which forms the chaotic sequence color seeking mechanism. The disturbance of transmitted data is realized according to chaotic sequence color seeking mechanism and PAPR performance is optimized simultaneously. The security of system is enhanced due to a key space of 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">90</sup> and PAPR can be reduced by 0.5 dB. An experiment conducted in a 40 GHz 16QAM CO-OFDM system over an 80 km standard single mode fiber (SSMF) shows that the authorized user can successfully decrypt the received signal, while the eavesdroppers cannot derive valid information with bit error rate (BER) at approximately 0.5. Analyses of peak to average power ratio (PAPR) performance and time complexity of the scheme are further carried out under different cluster forming methods to derive the optimized configuration which is critical in encryption.

PLS performance analysis of the vertical UWOC system with perfect and imperfect CSI.

Although underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) receives much interest lately, security issues associated with it get little attention. In this work, it is the first attempt to investigate the physical layer security (PLS) performance of the vertical UWOC system with perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI). Specifically speaking, the communication between two legitimate peers in the presence of an external eavesdropper is studied from the information-theoretic security perspective. Assuming that turbulence-induced fading over the vertical UWOC links is respectively subject to cascaded lognormal (LN) and Gamma-Gamma (GG) distributions for weak and moderate/strong turbulence conditions, and the angular pointing error is randomized by the Beckmann distribution, the composite cascaded statistical fading models are derived with the comprehensive effects of path loss, underwater turbulence, angular pointing errors, and channel estimation error. On the basis of these models, analysis frameworks of the probability of strictly positive secrecy capacity (SPSC), secrecy outage probability (SOP), and average secrecy capacity (ASC) are further obtained for this UWOC system, which are confirmed by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Furthermore, the effects including the number of layers, the level of channel estimation error, the link distance, the location of the eavesdropper, the quality of the main and eavesdropping channels on this system are analyzed for different water conditions. The presented results give valuable insights into the practical aspects of deployment of UWOC networks.

Secrecy Analysis of DCSK-Based PLC Systems With Multiple Eavesdroppers

In the past two decades, chaotic modulation schemes have drawn much attention for their significant advantages over other traditional modulation techniques. One of the noticeable advantages is the capability of providing secure communication in the presence of an eavesdropper. In this article, we study the physical layer security (PLS) performance of low-frequency power line communication (PLC) systems against multiple eavesdroppers by employing differential chaos shift keying based modulation technique. A wiretap power line channel model is investigated by considering two different cases: 1) when all the channels are assumed to be independent and identically distributed (IID) following Log-normal distribution; and 2) the wiretap channels are considered to be identical but correlated Log-normally distributed and independent of the main channel. Contemporaneously, the Bernoulli-Gaussian random process models the PLC noise. Further, a comprehensive PLS study of the considered PLC system is characterized in terms of the average secrecy capacity, secure outage probability, and strictly positive secrecy capacity. We also propose an algorithm to maximize the secrecy throughput under security and reliability constraints. Moreover, to obtain essential insights, we reveal the impact of various crucial parameters onto the proposed system.

Physical Layer Security of HAPS-Based Space–Air–Ground-Integrated Network With Hybrid FSO/RF Communication

In this paper, we study the physical layer security performance of a downlink space-air-ground integrated network (SAGIN), where a satellite communicates with the ground user/destination via a high-altitude platform station (HAPS)- based relay in the presence of an eavesdropper. In particular, we propose to use hybrid free space optical (FSO)/radio frequency (RF) transmission to enhance the security of the considered system. Herein, the FSO and RF links are assumed to experience Gamma-Gamma and Shadowed-Rician distributions, respectively. Specifically, we derive exact and asymptotic expressions of secrecy outage probability for the considered SAGIN by employing intensity modulation/direct detection. We provide the numerical and simulation results to validate our analysis.

Physical Layer Security Performance of Multi-User Mixed Radio-Frequency/Free-Space-Optics System Based on Optimal User Interference.

This paper presents research on the physical layer security performance of a multi-user mixed RF/FSO system based on optimal user interference. In this system model, the RF link experiences Rayleigh fading, and the FSO link follows the Fischer-Snedecor F distribution. The system adopts a double-hop-decode-and-forward (DF) relay scheme. We also consider the effect of directivity errors in the FSO link and assume the presence of an illegal eavesdropper with a single antenna near the RF link. The source node controls the energy collection and information forwarding using a multi-user structure based on simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). We select the optimal user to jam the eavesdropper's communication. We derive closed-form expressions for the mixed RF/FSO communication system's secrecy outage probability (SOP) and average secrecy capacity (ASC). Monte Carlo simulations are performed to verify the accuracy of these expressions. By formulating and simulating the simulation system, the impact of various important factors on the mixed system's physical layer security (PLS) is analyzed. The analysis indicates that increasing the number of antennas and interference signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the optimal user, the time allocation factor and energy conversion efficiency, and the improvement in the quality of atmospheric channels with improved weather will significantly enhance this system's PLS.

Analysis of the Mutual Information of Channel Phase Observations in Line-of-Sight Scenarios.

The mutual information of the observed channel phase between devices can serve as an entropy source for secret key generation in line-of-sight scenarios. However, so far only simulated and numeric results were available. This paper derives the probability distribution of the channel phase and corresponding expressions for the mutual information. Moreover, the orientation distribution is optimized in order to maximize the mutual information. All presented results are validated numerically. These outcomes serve as a basis for further analytic investigations on the secret key generation rate and subsequent physical layer security performance analysis in line-of-sight scenarios, such as those encountered in drone-aided communications.

Simulating the physical layer security performance of underlay cognitive energy-harvesting relay radio networks

This article analyzes the security performance of underlay cognitive energy-harvesting relay radio networks (UCEHRRN) through the Monter-Carlo simulation results. The results clarify the influence of critical operating parameters on the security performance of the system. Furthermore, the security capabilities of UCEHRRN have been compared with those of the live transmission system. Moreover, many results show that the security performance of the system is significantly improved. Analysis of the results also shows that UCEHRRN is especially effective when the direct transmission system cannot achieve security due to objective reasons such as path loss, severe fading, and shadowing.

Physical Layer Security Performance Analysis for Relay-Aided Visible Light Communication System

The risk of information leakage increases when the relay technology is introduced to extend the communication range and improve the quality of communication services of cell-edge users in visible light communication (VLC) systems. To evaluate these security risks, physical layer security (PLS) performance for decode-and-forward (DF) relay-aided VLC system is investigated in this paper. Specifically, the theoretical expressions of the upper and lower bounds of the security outage probability (SOP) for the DF relay-aided VLC system under the amplitude constraint are obtained based on a stochastic geometry analysis method. Monte Carlo simulation validates the correctness of the derived theoretical expressions of the upper and lower bounds of the SOP. Moreover, simulation results show that the security outage performance of the DF relay-aided VLC system is deteriorated compared with the non-relay VLC system. Furthermore, the influences of the eavesdroppers' distribution density, the radiation radius of LED source, the radiation radius and deployment height of the relay on the SOP have been investigated. Last but not least, the optimal deployment height of the relay can be determined for achieving the optimum security outage performance. These parameters can effectively guide the design of the secure relay-aided VLC system.

Enhancing the physical layer security of artificial noise-aided half-duplex cooperative NOMA systems

The objective of this paper is to propose techniques for enhancing the physical layer security (PLS) performance of half-duplex cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access (HD-CNOMA) network in the presence of an external passive eavesdropper. We propose an artificial noise (AN)-aided framework and derive approximate analytical expressions for the secrecy outage probabilities (SOPs) of the downlink users. It is demonstrated that the proposed AN-aided framework significantly reduces the SOPs of the users and completely resolves the zero-diversity order problem, which is prevalent in HD-CNOMA network without AN. To further enhance the PLS performance, we determine optimal power allocation coefficients (OPACs) for the downlink users at the base station (BS) that minimizes the system SOP (SSOP) of the AN-aided HD-CNOMA network. With the help of extensive numerical and simulation investigations, it is shown that the proposed OPAC leads to significant reduction of the SSOP, while lowering the SOPs of the users, compared to random/equal setting of the PACs.

On the Secure Performance of Intelligent Reflecting Surface-Assisted HARQ Systems

This paper analyzes the physical layer security performance of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) systems with the assistance of an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) and aims to reveal the primary factors that enhance PLS. First, closed-form expressions for the connection outage probability (COP) and secrecy outage probability (SOP) in HARQ with chase combining (HARQ-CC) are acquired using the generalized-K (KG) distribution. Then, these two critical metrics are derived while adopting HARQ with incremental redundancy (HARQ-IR), resorting to the mixture gamma (MG) distribution and the Mellin transform. Diversity and coding gain are also addressed through an asymptotic analysis of the COP and SOP. Finally, an evaluation of the numerical results demonstrates that a greater gain in the main channel and the wiretap channel can be produced by increasing the number of meta-surfaces rather than increasing the maximum transmission number, except for the higher signal-to-noise (SNR) region of HARQ-IR where the latter is preferred. This finding provides a significant guidance for the joint configuration of IRS and HARQ to achieve secure communication.

Secure Downlink Transmission Strategies against Active Eavesdropping in燦OMA Systems: A Zero-Sum Game Approach

Non-orthogonal multiple access technology (NOMA), as a potentially promising technology in the 5G/B5G era, suffers from ubiquitous security threats due to the broadcast nature of the wireless medium. In this paper, we focus on artificial-signal-assisted and relay-assisted secure downlink transmission schemes against external eavesdropping in the context of physical layer security, respectively. To characterize the non-cooperative confrontation around the secrecy rate between the legitimate communication party and the eavesdropper, their interactions are modeled as a two-person zero-sum game. The existence of the Nash equilibrium of the proposed game models is proved, and the pure strategy Nash equilibrium and mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium profiles in the two schemes are solved and analyzed, respectively. The numerical simulations are conducted to validate the analytical results, and show that the two schemes improve the secrecy rate and further enhance the physical layer security performance of NOMA systems.

Physical Layer Security Performance of NOMA-Aided Vehicular Communications Over Nakagami-$m$ Time-Selective Fading Channels With Channel Estimation Errors

This paper considers a single-input-multiple-output non-orthogonal multiple access enabled vehicular communication system, and investigates its secrecy performance over time-selective fading and channel estimation errors. We formulate two scenarios considering the decoding ability at eavesdropper, viz., 1) Scenario I: when it has sufficient decoding capability, and 2) Scenario II: when its decoding capability can be the same as the legitimate vehicles. Under such a realistic system setup, we derive the secrecy outage probability (SOP) and ergodic secrecy capacity expressions for both legitimate vehicles and the overall system under both Scenarios I and II over Nakagami- <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">m</i> fading channels. We then analyze the asymptotic SOP limits of both legitimate vehicles under Scenarios I and II, by formulating cases based on the average transmit signal-to-noise ratio and average channel gains associated with the main links and wiretap link. From the asymptotic analysis under these cases, it is observed that both legitimate vehicles do not achieve any secrecy diversity order even after leveraging the benefits of fading severity parameters and multiple antennas. We also formulate several special cases of interest to reveal some more insightful information about the system's secrecy performance. Finally, we corroborate our analytical and theoretical findings via simulation results.

Physical layer security performance of NOMA-assisted vehicular communication systems over double-Rayleigh fading channels

In this paper, we investigate the secrecy performance of a downlink non-orthogonal multiple access enabled V2V communication system wherein a source vehicle communicates with two authenticated user vehicles, i.e., far user and near user, in the presence of a passive eavesdropper vehicle. Moreover, we formulate two scenarios based on the eavesdropper’s decoding capabilities; (1) Scenario I: when the eavesdropper vehicle has comparable decoding capabilities as with the authorized user vehicles, and (2) Scenario II: when the eavesdropper is entirely capable of perfectly decoding the signals from both authorized user vehicles. For such a system configuration with Scenarios I &II, we deduce the analytical expressions for the secrecy outage probability (SOP) and ergodic secrecy capacity over independent but not necessarily identically distributed double-Rayleigh fading channels. Further, to obtain insights into the secrecy diversity order for the legitimate user vehicles under Scenarios I &II, we present the asymptotic SOP analysis by taking three cases into account; (1) Case 1: when the average transmit signal-to-noise ratio approaches infinity, (2) Case 2: when the average channel gains of the user vehicles tend to infinity with fixed average channel gains corresponding to the eavesdropper, and (3) Case 3: when the average channel gains pertaining to the user vehicles and the eavesdropper tend to infinity. From which, we can infer that the secrecy diversity order of the far user vehicle is zero for Cases 1, 2, & 3, whereas the secrecy diversity order of the near user vehicle is zero for Cases 1 & 3 and one for Case 2, under Scenarios I &II. The numerical and simulation results corroborate our theoretical investigations. Our results demonstrate the impact of transmit power, power allocation factor, channel conditions of legitimate users and eavesdropper on the system’s secrecy performance.

Research on ultra-reliable and low-latency secure transmission of distribution monitoring communication system

In the smart distribution network scenario, we investigate the physical layer security performance of power line communication in FBL. The results show that the system secure transmission rate increases with increasing channel block length and eventually converges to a constant value. Compared with the traditional SE maximization algorithm based on FBL, the total secrecy rate is improved by about 13%. Compared with the traditional linear precoder (ZF), the secrecy rate is improved by about 30%. Therefore, the proposed scheme is superior in supporting the power line communication system based on FBL.

Physical layer security of reconfigurable intelligent surface empowered wireless network with cooperative jammer

This paper evaluates the physical layer security performance of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) enabled wireless network in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. To secure the information transmission, a cooperative jammer is proposed to generate interference signal that degrade the performance of the eavesdropper. The source-to-RIS and RIS-to-destination links are subjected to Rician and Rayliegh fading distributions with phase errors, respectively, while other transmission links in the network follow the Nakagami-m fading distributions. The system phase error of the RIS is estimated by the von Mises distribution. To quantify the secrecy performance of the concerned system, the exact closed-form expressions in terms of connection outage probability (COP), security outage probability (SOP), and secrecy throughput (ST) are derived. In addition, the asymptotic expression of the system COP is obtained at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), providing more insight about the system performance. The accuracy of the derived expression is justified by Monte Carlo simulation. Also, the results clarify the analysis of the security performance, taking into account the impact of system and channel parameters on the system.

Physical Layer Security for CRNs over Beaulieu-Xie Fading Channels

In recent years, the access of massive communication devices leads to the insufficient spectrum resources of wireless networks. One of the practical means to resolve the problem is to build cognitive radio networks (CRNs), which can realize the sharing of spectrum resources between primary and secondary users, thereby improving the utilization rate of wireless spectrum resources. To this end, the CRNs are utilized to establish the Wyner’s eavesdropping model over the Beaulieu-Xie fading channels. We mainly deduce the accurate expressions of secrecy outage probability and strictly positive secrecy capacity to explore the performance of physical layer security. Moreover, the better overlap between the statistical simulation and the theoretical results indicates the correctness of the theoretical analysis equation. The interesting results are that both increasing the P max and decreasing the C t h can improve the security performance. This work is a good reference and guidance for modeling CRNs (Internet of Things, fifth generation, cell phone networks, etc.) and security performance evaluation.