Physical Layer Security Scheme Research Articles

Enhancing internet of things security using entropy-informed RF-DNA fingerprint learning from Gabor-based images

Internet of Things (IoT) deployments are anticipated to reach 29.42 billion by the end of 2030 at an average growth rate of 16% over the next 6 years. These deployments represent an overall growth of 201.4% in operational IoT devices from 2020 to 2030. This growth is alarming because IoT devices have permeated all aspects of our daily lives, and most lack adequate security. IoT-connected systems and infrastructures can be secured using device identification and authentication, two effective identity-based access control mechanisms. Physical Layer Security (PLS) is an alternative or augmentation to cryptographic and other higher-layer security schemes often used for device identification and authentication. PLS does not compromise spectral and energy efficiency or reduce throughput. Specific Emitter Identification (SEI) is a PLS scheme capable of uniquely identifying senders by passively learning emitter-specific features unintentionally imparted on the signals during their formation and transmission by the sender’s radio frequency (RF) front end. This work focuses on image-based SEI because it produces deep learning (DL) models that are less sensitive to external factors and better generalize to different operating conditions. More specifically, this work focuses on reducing the computational cost and memory requirements of image-based SEI with little to no reduction in performance by selecting the most informative portions of each image using entropy. These image portions or tiles reduce memory storage requirements by 92.8% and the DL training time by 81% while achieving an average percent correct classification performance of 91% and higher for SNR values of 15 dB and higher with individual emitter performance no lower than 87.7% at the same SNR. Compared with another state-of-the-art time-frequency (TF)-based SEI approach, our approach results in superior performance for all investigated signal-to-noise ratio conditions, the largest improvement being 21.7% at 9 dB and requires 43% less data.

Exploring the Feasibility of Quantum-Based Secure Communications for Nuclear Applications

Recent advancements in reactor designs could offer new revolutionary capabilities, including remote monitoring, increased flexibility, and reduced operation and maintenance costs. Embracing new digital technologies would allow for operational concepts such as semiautonomous or near-autonomous control, and two-way communications for real-time integration with the upcoming smart electric grid. However, such continuous data transmission from and toward a reactor site could potentially introduce new challenges and vulnerabilities, necessitating the prioritization of cybersecurity. Conventional information technology–based encryption schemes, which rely mostly on computational complexity, have been shown to be vulnerable to cyberattacks. With the advent of quantum computing, practically any asymmetric encryption could be potentially compromised. For example, it has been shown that a RSA-2048 bit key could be broken in 8 h. To address this challenge, we explore the feasibility of quantum key distribution (QKD) to secure communications. QKD is a physical layer security scheme relying on the laws of quantum mechanics instead of mathematical complexity. QKD promises not only unconditional security but also detection of potential intrusion, as it allows the communication parties to become aware of eavesdropping. To test the proposed hypothesis, a novel simulation tool (NuQKD) was developed to allow for real-time simulation of the BB84 QKD protocol between two remote terminals. A reference scenario is proposed, generic enough to cover various internal and external communication links to a reactor site. Using NuQKD, the internal and external data links were modeled, and receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated for various QKD configurations. A performance analysis was conducted, demonstrating that QKD can provide adequate secret key rates with low false alarms and has the potential of addressing the nuclear industry’s high standards of confidentiality for distance lengths up to 75 km of fiberoptics. Using a conservative estimation, QKD can provide up to 21.5 kbps of secret key rate for a distance of 1 km and 14.4 kbps at 10 km. The target secret key rates for the corresponding links were estimated at 16 kbps and 80 bps, respectively, based on the analysis of real data from a PUR-1 fully digital reactor. Consequently, QKD is shown to be compatible with existing and future point-to-point reactor communication architectures. These results motivate further study of quantum communications for nuclear reactors.

An active jamming-based helper deployment scheme for underwater acoustic sensor networks

Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) are usually deployed in unattended, opaque and even hostile environments; thus, they may face serious threats. In the last few years, physical layer security (PLS) has emerged as a new technique that can improve the security performance of networks. In this paper, we research the physical layer security scheme of UASNs by actively jamming against eavesdropping attacks. Utilizing the large propagation delay of the underwater acoustic (UWA) signal, the jamming signals can interfere with legitimate signals to prevent eavesdropping. Therefore, we propose an active jamming-based helper deployment scheme (AJHDS) for UASNs, which deploys the helpers to the target water area and realizes the secure transmission of the network. Both the simulation and field test results show that the scheme can significantly reduce the interception capability of eavesdroppers. Furthermore, the field sea experiment evaluates that the location of helpers affects the eavesdropper’s acquisition of legitimate data packets.

Polar code-based secure transmission with higher message rate combining channel entropy and computational entropy

The existing physical layer security schemes, which are based on the key generation model and the wire-tap channel model, achieve security by utilizing channel reciprocity entropy and noise entropy, respectively. In contrast, we propose a novel secure transmission framework that combines noise entropy with reciprocity entropy, achieved by inserting reciprocity entropy into the frozen bits of polar codes. Note that in real-world scenarios, when eavesdroppers employ polynomial-time attacks, the bit error rate (BER) increases due to the introduction of computational entropy. To achieve indistinguishability security, we convert the practical physical layer security metric, BER, into the average min-entropy, a widely accepted concept in cryptography. The simulation results demonstrate that the eavesdropper’s BER can be significantly increased without compromising the communication performance of the legitimate receiver. Under concrete parameters we selected, when compared to the joint scheme of physical layer key generation and one time pad, the modular semantically-secure scheme based on the wire-tap channel model, and the simple channel entropy combination scheme, our scheme achieves a message rate approximately 1.2 times, 3.8 times, and 1.4 times better, respectively. Experimental testing validates the feasibility of our scheme.

Physical layer security scheme for key concealment and distribution based on carrier scrambling

The purpose of this study is to present a physical layer security scheme for key concealment and distribution based on carrier scrambling. The three-dimensional (3D) Lorenz system is used to generate independent chaotic sequences that encrypt the information with bit, constellation and subcarrier. In order to realize the flexible distribution of the key and ensure its security, the key information is loaded into a specific subcarrier. While key subcarrier and the ciphertext subcarrier are scrambled simultaneously. The encrypted key position information is processed and transmitted in conjunction with the training sequence (TS) to facilitate demodulation by the legitimate receiver. The processed TS can accommodate up to 10 key position information, thereby demonstrating the scheme's exceptional scalability. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can safely transmit 131.80 Gb/s Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals across 2 km 7-core fiber. Meanwhile, the scheme enables simultaneous flexible distribution and concealment of the key, thereby offering a promising solution for physical layer security.

A New Physical Layer Security Scheme Based on Adaptive Bit Channel Selection for Polar-Coded OFDM

A New Physical Layer Security Scheme Based on Adaptive Bit Channel Selection for Polar-Coded OFDM

Low complexity physical layer security approach for 5G internet of things

<span lang="EN-US">Fifth-generation (5G) massive machine-type communication (mMTC) is expected to support the cellular adaptation of internet of things (IoT) applications for massive connectivity. Due to the massive access nature, IoT is prone to high interception probability and the use of conventional cryptographic techniques in these scenarios is not practical considering the limited computational capabilities of the IoT devices and their power budget. This calls for a lightweight physical layer security scheme which will provide security without much computational overhead and/or strengthen the existing security measures. Here a shift based physical layer security approach is proposed which will provide a low complexity security without much changes in baseline orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) architecture as per the low power requirements of IoT by systematically rearranging the subcarriers. While the scheme is compatible with most fast Fourier transform (FFT) based waveform contenders which are being proposed in 5G especially in mMTC and ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC), it can also add an additional layer of security at physical layer to enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB).</span>

Quantum Noise Secured Terahertz Communications

The terahertz communications display an important role in high-speed wireless communications, the security threat from the eavesdroppers in the terahertz communications has been gaining attention recently. The true randomness in the physical layer can ensure one-time-pad encryption for secured terahertz communications, however, physical layer security schemes like the quantum key distribution methods suffer from device imperfections that limit the desirable signal rate and link distance. Herein, we present the quantum noise secured terahertz wireless communications with photonic terahertz signal generation schemes. With the high-order diffusion algorithms, the signal is masked by the quantum noise ciphers to the eavesdroppers and cannot be detected because the inevitable randomness by quantum noise measurement will cause physical measurement errors. In the experiment, we demonstrate 16 Gbits <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> quantum noise secured terahertz wireless communications with the conventional optical communication realms and devices, operating at 300 GHz terahertz frequency. This quantum noise secured terahertz communication approach is a significant step toward high-security wireless communications.

PLS-IoT Enhancement Against Eavesdropping via Spatially Distributed Constellation Obfuscation

Wireless communication has become a ubiquitous facet of modern-day life. With the advent of Internet of Things (IoT) and massive machine-type connectivity, the number of devices is expected to increase even more. However, increased dependence on wireless connectivity is marred with risks related to user privacy and data confidentiality, especially for low-power IoT devices. Therefore, it is imperative to provide an extremely reliable secure algorithm with minimal complexity and computational expense in IoT paradigm. With that in mind, this letter presents asymmetric multi-level physical layer security (PLS) scheme, in which each transmitted symbol undergoes two types of distortion: channel-based phase distortion and multi-reception amplitude randomization. The proposed scheme offers a substantial security advantage for legitimate links, while also streamlining receiver design. Numerical results indicate that the scheme effectively confounds eavesdroppers without compromising the bit error rate of the intended receiver. Additionally, the proposed scheme provides another level of security by concealing the modulation information, requiring the receiver to detect the modulation scheme before detecting transmitted symbols.

Superposition Modulation for Physical Layer Security in Water-to-Air Visible Light Communication Systems

In this paper, we propose a physical layer security (PLS) scheme based on superposition modulation for water-to-air (W2A) visible light communication (VLC) systems. We characterize the high correlation between W2A and air-to-water (A2W) link gains from ray tracing simulation and experiments. The proposed scheme selects the modulation order and superposition parameter based on the high correlation between the W2A and A2W link gains. The scheme performance is studied by exploring its immunity against different types of attacks. The symbol error rates (SERs) are analyzed for both random and correlated attacks. Based on the link gains from real measurements, it is shown that under random attack Eve's SER exceeds 0.77 when Eve's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) varies from 5 dB to 30 dB, and under correlated attack Eve's SER decreases only for a high correlation coefficient when Eve is close enough to Bob, which is unrealistic for eavesdropping. In addition, the entropy of potential set under post-processing attack is derived and the complexity of successful cracking increases with the modulation set size. For intelligent attack, two unsupervised algorithms, namely K-means clustering and expectation maximization (EM) algorithm, are adopted for modulation identification. The distributions of Eve' SER under all four attacks are investigated based on the measured link gains in the laboratory environment, which demonstrates that intelligent attack with K-means clustering possesses the highest eavesdropping capability. However, more numerical results show that for intelligent attack with K-means clustering under wavy water surface, the proportion of the case where Eve has a higher SER than Bob is lower than 0.5 only when Eve lies between Alice and Bob with small horizontal distance, which is unrealistic for eavesdropping operation.

Physical layer security analysis using radio frequency‐fingerprinting in cellular‐V2X for 6G communication

AbstractIt is anticipated that sixth‐generation (6G) systems would present new security challenges while offering improved features and new directions for security in vehicular communication, which may result in the emergence of a new breed of adaptive and context‐aware security protocol. Physical layer security solutions can compete for low‐complexity, low‐delay, low‐footprint, adaptable, extensible, and context‐aware security schemes by leveraging the physical layer and introducing security controls. A novel physical layer security scheme that employs the concept of radio frequency fingerprinting (RF‐FP) for location estimation is proposed, wherein the RF‐FP values are collected at different points with in the cell. Then, based on the estimated location, the nearest possible road‐side unit for sending the information signal is located. After this, the effects on secrecy capacity (SC) and secrecy outage probability (SOP) in the presence of multiple eavesdropper per unit time are analysed. It has been shown via simulations that the proposed RF‐FP scheme increases SC by up to 25% for the same signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) values as those of the benchmarks, while the SOP tends to decrease by up to 30% as compared to the benchmark scheme for the same SNR value. Thus, the proposed RF‐FP‐based location estimation provides much better results as compared to the existing physical layer security schemes.

Naïve Bayes Supervised Learning based Physical Layer Authentication: Anti-Spoofing techniques for Industrial Radio Systems

Physical Layer Security (PLS) based authentication schemes are an alternative to conventional security schemes such as e.g. certificates or Message Authentication Codes (MACs). They can provide a more lightweight solution compared to traditional cryptography in order to meet the requirement of secure data transmission. However, errors in Physical Layer Authentication (PLA) techniques can occur due to adverse influences resulting from PLS schemes such as receiver noise or fading channels. Skillfull methods are therefore required in order to detect anormal system behaviour. One promising solution are supervised classification schemes. The application of Naïve Bayes (NB) classifiers for PLA is therefore proposed and evaluated within this work. Prior to that, we analyse the resource efficiency within typical Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) applications and conduct a security overhead analysis. We propose strategies in order to overcome the problem of missing training data from either the URLLC user or attacker node. A real world Software Defined Radio (SDR) based testbed using OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is implemented in order to evaluate the performance of NB based PLA. The measurements are conducted within the german campus network frequency band (LTE band 43). Further, we conduct a hyperparameter optimization (HPO) based on random search. The investigated classifiers show promising results in terms of authentication accuracy and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve performance.

Cooperative Jamming with AF Relay in Power Monitoring and Communication Systems for Mining

In underground mines, physical layer security (PLS) technology is a promising method for the effective and secure communication to monitor the mining process. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the PLS of an amplify-and-forward relay-aided system in power monitoring and communication systems for mining, with the consideration of multiple eavesdroppers. Explicitly, we propose a PLS scheme of cooperative jamming and precoding for a full-duplex system considering imperfect channel state information. To maximize the secrecy rate of the communications, an effective block coordinate descent algorithm is used to design the precoding and jamming matrix at both the source and the relay. Furthermore, the effectiveness and convergence of the proposed scheme with high channel state information uncertainty have been proven.

Active RIS-Assisted Secure Transmission for Cognitive Satellite Terrestrial Networks

This correspondence develops a physical-layer security scheme for a cognitive-satellite terrestrial network, where the satellite and base station (BS) share the spectrum resource, and multiple eavesdroppers attempt to intercept the private signal from the BS to the mobile user. Different from the commonly used passive reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), the active RIS, whose reflecting elements can control both the amplitude and phase of the incident signal, is deployed to cooperatively enhance the secure transmission from the BS to the mobile user, and suppress the interference imposed to the earth station. We attempt to maximize the achievable secrecy rate subject to the transmit power constraint and the interference threshold. To address the above non-convex problem, we propose an effective alternating optimization scheme to jointly optimize the beamformer and artificial noise at the BS, and the reflecting coefficient at the RIS. Simulation results indicate that the impact of the “double fading” can be effectively relieved by using active RIS, thus leading to an apparently enhanced secrecy performance gain compared to those with the passive RIS and no RIS designs.

Noncoherent Massive MIMO With Embedded One-Way Function Physical Layer Security

We propose a novel physical layer security scheme that exploits an optimization method as a one-way function. The proposed scheme builds on nonsquare differential multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), which is capable of noncoherent detection even in massive MIMO scenarios and thus resilient against risky pilot insertion and pilot contamination attacks. In contrast to conventional nonsquare differential MIMO schemes, which require space-time projection matrices designed via highly complex, discrete, and combinatorial optimization, the proposed scheme utilizes projection matrices constructed via low-complexity continuous optimization designed to maximize the coding gain of the system. Furthermore, using a secret key generated from the true randomness nature of the wireless channel as an initial value, the proposed continuous optimization-based projection matrix construction method becomes a one-way function, making the proposed scheme a physical layer secure differential MIMO system. An attack algorithm to challenge the proposed scheme is also devised, which demonstrates that the security level achieved improves as the number of transmit antennas increases, even in an environment where the eavesdropper can perfectly estimate channel coefficients and experience asymptotically large signal-to-noise ratios.

Cooperative Beamforming With Artificial Noise Injection for Physical-Layer Security

In the sixth-generation (6G) communications, how to deploy and manage massively connected Internet-of-Things (IoT) nodes will be one of the key technical challenges, because 6G is expected to provide 10 times higher connection, compared to 5G. At the same time, due to the sharp growth in connected devices and newly adopted technologies, learning-based attacks and big data breaches are expected to occur more frequently. With the advances of quantum computing in the future, conventional cryptography-based security protocols may be obsolete in the future wireless networks, which makes physical layer security (PLS) an attractive alternative or complement for secure communications. In this context, cooperative beamforming (CB)-based PLS schemes are known to be effective solutions to guarantee high secrecy rate with IoT devices, which have limited power and hardware complexity. However, the existing CB-based PLS algorithms suffer from extremely low secrecy rate, in case that eavesdroppers are close to the intended receiver. To overcome such critical issue, in this paper, we propose a CB-based PLS with artificial noise (AN) injection, which can be realized in a fully distributed manner to minimize the overhead in the IoT networks with a large number of devices. We analyze the array factor using the virtual antenna array (VAA) created by the proposed PLS algorithm. Then, the secrecy rate is derived in a closed-form expression, which can be used to optimize the performance for given system parameters in both the absence and presence of channel state information (CSI) error. The proposed scheme provides considerably higher secrecy rate compared to the conventional CB-based PLS schemes, when an eavesdropper exists near to the intended receiver. Furthermore, through simulation and numerical results, we show that the secrecy rate of the proposed scheme can be maximized by adjusting the ratio between the data beamformer and AN injection beamformer components. As a result, the proposed method shows a performance improvement of up to two times compared to the conventional CB-based PLS schemes, in terms of the secrecy rate. Such performance gain increases as the angular location of Eve becomes closer to that of Bob, which corresponds to the most vulnerable situation of the conventional CB-based PLS algorithms.

Анализ безопасности систем NOMA

Existing Physical Layer Security (PLS) schemes for NOMA are either based on cryptography-based approaches or are limited to approaches that require high processing complexity and key sharing. The conventional NOMA system suffers from security risks and weaknesses, such as being prone to external or internal eavesdropping. By sending NOMA messages to multiple users at the same time on the same resources, there is a risk that an unauthorized user could eavesdrop on or access multiple users' information if the NOMA transmission is successfully intercepted. The NOMA system is susceptible to internal interception when protecting confidential data in cases where untrusted users are present. Therefore, traditional methods of data exchange cannot provide the required level of secrecy for NOMA systems. The results. The work uses non-orthogonal access (NOMA) technology and security assessment of various wireless communication systems using NOMA, such as cognitive radio networks, systems with support for relaying the IoT mode, as well as the D2D mode. The results of the analysis of security characteristics and operation of the NOMA system in different modes are presented.

IRS-Assisted Physical Layer Security for 5G Enabled Industrial Internet of Things

5G is a key enabler of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) that provides seamless connectivity between machines, sensors and computing servers. Security and privacy are major concerns for 5G enabled IIoT. Physical Layer Security (PLS) is a promising technique that can enhance the security of 5G enabled IIoT. In this paper, we present an IRS-assisted PLS scheme for 5G enabled IIoT that improves the weighted secrecy sum-rate (WSSR) of the industrial wireless network, where eavesdroppers are present around the facility. The key idea is to jointly optimize active and passive beamforming vectors to increase the secrecy rate at the user. To maximize WSSR, we use the stable matching algorithm that optimally assigns IRSs for secure data sharing between industrial units. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme enhances the WSSR performance by 40% and minimum secrecy rate by 25% as compared to the random and maximum weight matching schemes, respectively.

Physical-Layer Security of Underlay MIMO-D2D Communications by Null Steering Method Over Nakagami-m and Norton Fading Channels

Underlay device-to-device (D2D) communication network is becoming a promising solution for the fifth generation (5G) and beyond wireless technology. It exploits the proximity of the D2D pairs and improves the overall network’s latency, capacity, and spectral efficiency by sharing/reusing the existing cellular resources. However, due to the frequency-sharing/reusing, the security of the device users (DUs) and the cellular users (CUs) becomes vulnerable. This paper presents a novel physical-layer security (PLS) scheme for the underlay multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) D2D communications in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers. The proposed new PLS scheme can significantly reduce the information leakage for both CUs and DUs by adopting a null steering scheme at the transmitter. A signal alignment technique is also employed to eradicate the stringent requirement of a larger number of transmitter antennas than that of the receiver antennas. A generalized nonlinear optimization problem has been formulated to improve the PLS performance for MIMO-D2D communications. A closed-form and generalized analytical expression of the secrecy outage probability for CUs and DUs is derived over the imperfect Nakagami- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and Norton fading channels. Theoretical and simulation results of our proposed new PLS scheme have shown significant improvement in the secrecy capacity and secrecy outage probability for both CUs and DUs in comparison with the existing methods.

DSP-Based Physical Layer Security for Coherent Optical Communication Systems

A novel digital signal processing (DSP)-based scheme for physical layer security in coherent optical communication systems is proposed and numerically investigated. The optical layer signal encryption is accomplished by two dispersive elements and one phase modulator (PM) driven by a DSP-generated encryption key, whilst signal decryption uses similar components but with inverted dispersion values and security keys. A critical aspect of the DSP-based physical layer security is that the security keys, driving the PMs to hide/recover the data signals, must be highly unpredictable and noise-like, thus orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals are employed as they possess these characteristics, they can also be easily generated and cover a suitably wide range of unique keys. Numerical simulations are conducted to determine optimum system parameters for achieving a high level of security, the key parameters requiring optimization are the dispersion of the dispersive elements and the bandwidth of the security keys. Using these determined optimum parameters, in-depth investigations are undertaken of encryption/decryption induced transmission performance penalties, sensitives to various parameter offsets and operation over various transmission distances. To observe any data signal dependencies, various performance metrics are investigated for different combinations of modulation formats (DQPSK and 16QAM) and baud rates (40 Gbaud and 100 Gbaud) for the transmitted data signals. The proposed DSP-based physical layer security scheme is shown to have the potential to achieve, in a low-cost and highly effective manner, a high level of physical layer security with acceptable performance penalties for existing coherent optical communication systems.