Secrecy Capacity Maximization Research Articles

On Secrecy Performance in D-MoSK-Based 3-D Diffusive Molecular Communication System.

This paper studies the secrecy performance in a 3-D diffusive molecular communication system with the general depleted molecule shift keying (D-MoSK) modulation, where a point transmitter Alice transmits through diffusion multiple types of molecules modulation to a legitimate absorbing receiver Bob, suffering the eavesdropping from an absorbing eavesdropper Eve. We first develop a solid theoretical framework to determine the probabilistic distributions for the number of molecules absorbed by Bob and Eve, respectively. Based on the results, we then derive the average symbol error rate (SER) as well as the mutual information of Alice-Bob and Alice-Eve, and further apply the Shannon theory to determine the secrecy capacity of Alice-Bob transmission. We also develop the closed-form results for the optimal detection threshold at Bob to achieve the secrecy capacity, and thus devise a complete algorithm for secrecy capacity maximization. Finally, we provide numerical results to illustrate the secrecy performance in the concerned system.

Secure Hybrid Beamforming for IRS-Assisted Millimeter Wave Systems

This paper investigates the secure hybrid beamforming (HB) design in an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) assisted millimeter-wave (mmWave) system, where an IRS is deployed to help the legitimate transmission from Alice to Bob under the eavesdropping of Eve. To protect the legitimate transmission, Alice employs HB to send both the information signal and the artificial noise, while the IRS employs passive beamforming (PB) to reconstruct the wireless environment. Aiming at the secrecy capacity (SC) maximization, the joint optimization of HB and PB is formulated as a non-convex problem with constant-modulus constraints. To efficiently solve such a challenging problem, the original problem is decomposed into a PB subproblem and an HB subproblem, then these subproblems are sequentially solved by the proposed algorithms. Particularly, for the PB subproblem, we propose a channel information aided PB algorithm, which is proved to converge at a stationary point. With the solution of PB subproblem, two algorithms are proposed for the HB subproblem: 1) near-optimal SC approaching HB algorithm that achieves a near-optimal solution; 2) low-complexity HB algorithm that achieves a slight lower SC with less computational complexity. Simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of proposed algorithms in comparison with the state-of-the-art works.

Optimal Element Allocation for RIS-Aided Physical Layer Security

In this paper, we investigate an innovative physical layer security (PLS) scheme for an uncertain reconfigurable intelligent surface- (RIS-) assisted communication system under eavesdropping attack. Specifically, in our proposed system, we consider that the uncertain RIS is known to the legitimate user while not to the eavesdropper (Eve). In this manner, the reflective elements of the uncertain RIS are adjusted to strengthen the keen signals for the legitimate user while suppressing the signals for Eve via jamming. We analyze the system by assuming legitimate and wiretap channels, respectively, where the secrecy capacity maximization problem is formulated and its exact closed-form expression is derived. Simulation results verifying the accuracy of our analysis demonstrate the validity and superiority of the uncertain RIS-assisted communication system against its counterparts.

Secrecy Capacity Maximization of UAV-Enabled Relaying Systems with 3D Trajectory Design and Resource Allocation.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted considerable attention, thanks to their high flexibility, on-demand deployment and the freedom in trajectory design. The communication channel quality can be effectively improved by using UAV to build a line-of-sight communication link between the transmitter and the receiver. Furthermore, there is increasing demand for communication security improvement, as the openness of a wireless channel brings serious threat. This paper formulates a secrecy capacity optimization problem of a UAV-enabled relay communication system in the presence of malicious eavesdroppers, in which the secrecy capacity is maximized by jointly optimizing the UAV relay’s location, power allocation, and bandwidth allocation under the communication quality and information causality constraints. A successive convex approximation–alternative iterative optimization (SCA-AIO) algorithm is proposed to solve this highly coupled nonconvex problem. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed secrecy transmission strategy with optimal trajectory design and resource allocation compared with the benchmark schemes and reveal the impacts of communication resources on system performance.

How Much Can Radio Resource Allocation Help to Improve Secrecy Capacity of V2V Underlay Cellular Networks?

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) underlay cellular communication plays an important role in the fifth-generation (5G) and beyond communications and its security issues attract a lot of attention. Physical layer security, which explores channel characteristics to protect wireless communications, is very attractive due to its low latency. This paper focuses on secrecy capacity maximization in V2V underlay cellular communications, where the secrecy capacity of vehicular user equipments (VUEs) is optimized first, followed by sum proportional fairness function optimization for both VUEs and cellular user equipments (CUEs). The optimization problems can be solved in two sub-problems, e.g., power and subcarrier allocation problems. The power allocation can be done with the first strategy using a one-dimensional searching algorithm, whereas a genetic algorithm (GA) is used to solve the second optimization problem. In addition, as VUEs share uplink resources with CUEs, the co-channel interference exists and the subcarrier allocation sub-problem is a 3D search problem, which is solved by a two-step iterative Hungarian algorithm (IHA). Finally, simulations are performed to validate the performance of the proposed schemes.

Secrecy Performance Analysis of UAV Assisted Relay Transmission for Cognitive Network With Energy Harvesting

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assisted transmission can significantly improve the spectrum efficiency and coverage of the wireless communication network. The paper proposed a cooperative secrecy transmission mechanism, which can take advantage of transmitter signal of primary user (PU) as a dedicated radio frequency (RF) source with decode and forward (DF) UAV selection and energy harvesting (EH) under cognitive network. Specifically, the transmitting signal of PU in the cognitive network can be viewed and used as energy to drive secondary user (SU) nodes and multi-relay nodes to send signals. It was worth noting that the DF UAV relay may bring about the unexpected noise and decrease the received signal to noise ratio (SNR), therefore, the multiple UAV assisted relays selected with secrecy capacity maximization criteria under cognitive network was proposed and investigated in detail, where the destination node equipped with multiple antennas and adopted the optimal antenna selection receiver. Moreover, By using the function analysis method, the closed expressions of the system secrecy outage probability (SOP) and the probability of non-zero secrecy capacity were calculated and derived accurately. Furthermore, the asymptotic expressions of the UAV assisted relay system under the large SNR cases were analyzed in detail, where the expressions of secrecy diversity order and secrecy diversity gain of the UAV assisted relay cognitive system were obtained thoroughly. Simulation results verified the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism and the correctness of the calculation.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces Assisted Secure Multicast Communications

Reconfigurable Intelligent surface (RIS) can enhance the desired signals and suppress the undesired signals by adjusting the phase shifts of its reflector elements. This letter considers secure multicast communication with the help of RIS. A multiple-antennas transmitter multicasts the common messages to a group of single-antenna receivers in the presence of a single-antenna eavesdropper, where an RIS is set up to enhance the desired signals for the receivers and suppress the signals for the eavesdropper. First, the equivalent multicast and wiretap channels are analyzed, and a secrecy capacity maximization problem is formulated. Next, this letter obtains the necessary conditions that the optimal solution needs to satisfy. Finally, a logarithmic barrier algorithm is proposed to obtain a local optimal solution.

Joint Beamforming and Power Splitting Design for Physical Layer Security in Cognitive SWIPT Decode-and-Forward Relay Networks

In an underlay cognitive simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) network, communication from secondary user (SU) to secondary destination (SD) is accomplished with decode-and-forward (DF) relays. Multiple energy-constrained relays are assumed to harvest energy from SU via power splitting (PS) protocol and complete SU secure information transmission with beamforming. Hence, physical layer security (PLS) is investigated in cognitive SWIPT network. In order to interfere with eavesdropper and improve relay’s energy efficiency, a destination-assisted jamming scheme is proposed. Namely, SD transmits artificial noise (AN) to interfere with eavesdropping, while jamming signal can also provide harvested energy to relays. Beamforming vector and power splitting ratio are jointly optimized with the objective of SU secrecy capacity maximization. We solve this non-convex optimization problem via a general two-stage procedure. Firstly, we obtain the optimal beamforming vector through semi-definite relaxation (SDR) method with a fixed power splitting ratio. Secondly, the best power splitting ratio can be obtained by one-dimensional search. We provide simulation results to verify the proposed solution. Simulation results show that the scheme achieves the maximum SD secrecy rate with appropriate selection of power splitting ratio, and the proposed scheme guarantees security in cognitive SWIPT networks.

Secrecy capacity maximization for untrusted UAV-assisted cooperative communications with wireless information and power transfer

This article addresses the problem of secure communication in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-aided wireless communication system in which a source sends confidential messages to a destination via an untrusted UAV mounted with a miniaturized energy-harvesting transceiver. The UAV can overhear the source’s confidential messages. To create a positive secrecy rate, the destination sends jamming signals during the communication. We aim to maximize the achievable secrecy rate for two scenarios: security-on-demand UAV (SoD-UAV), where the UAV can modify its trajectory and power-splitting (PS) ratio to serve the secure communication, and non-security-on-demand UAV (nSoD-UAV), where the UAV only forwards the source’s messages. For the nSoD-UAV, we optimize the transmit powers at the source and the destination for a given UAV’s trajectory and given PS ratios. For the SoD-UAV, the UAV’s trajectory, the PS ratios and the transmit powers are jointly optimized. Due to the non-convex optimization problems, we use successive convex optimization and block coordinate descent methods to find efficient approximate solutions. Numerical results verify that the achievable secrecy rate is significantly improved using the proposed algorithms.

Mode Selection and Spectrum Partition for D2D Inband Communications: A Physical Layer Security Perspective

This paper investigates from the physical layer security (PLS) perspective the fundamental issues of mode selection and spectrum partition in cellular networks with inband device-to-device (D2D) communication. We consider a mode selection scheme allowing each D2D pair to probabilistically switch between the underlay and overlay modes, and also a spectrum partition scheme where the system spectrum is orthogonally partitioned between cellular and overlay D2D communications. We first develop a general theoretical framework to model both the secrecy outage/secrecy capacity performance of cellular users and outage/capacity performance of D2D pairs, and to conduct performance optimization to identify the optimal mode selection and spectrum partition for secrecy capacity maximization and secrecy outage probability minimization. A case study is then provided to demonstrate the application of our theoretical framework for performance modeling and optimization, and also to illustrate the impacts of mode selection and spectrum partition on the PLS performances of inband D2D communications.

Secure Communications in SWIPT-Enabled Two-Way Relay Networks

This paper investigates the secrecy performance of a wireless-powered two-way relay network in the presence of an eavesdropper. Based on adaptive time allocation (TA) and power splitting (PS), a novel secure relaying protocol is proposed. For the purpose of secrecy capacity maximization, the optimal TA ratio and PS ratio, which are adaptively adjusted according to instantaneous channel state information, are derived in high signal-to-noise ratio regime through a split-step iterative method. Numerical results show that in the case of unknown wiretap channels, the proposed protocol can also obtain near-optimal secrecy capacity. Moreover, the proposed protocol has better secrecy capacity performance than the PS relaying protocol in various scenarios.

Joint Feedback and Artificial Noise Design for Secure Communications Over Fading Channels Without Eavesdropper's CSI

Secure communication with noisy feedback is studied in this correspondence. Unlike the majority of previous research efforts where the eavesdropper's channel state information (CSI)—either instantaneous or statistical CSI, is known by the legitimate users, a joint feedback and artificial noise scheme without any eavesdropper's CSI is proposed. The proposed scheme lets the source and the legitimate destination alternatively transmit private messages and degrade the eavesdropper's channel quality in all transmission phases. An insightful discovery is that if the transmit power is lager than a certain threshold, a positive secrecy capacity can be achieved, which overcomes the problem that the secrecy cannot be achieved when the legitimate user's CSI is worse than the eavesdropper's. The secrecy capacity maximization problem is investigated by adaptive power allocation for the private signals and the artificial noise where a near optimal solution of the power of artificial noise is obtained under the high SNR situation. Finally, the numerical results verify the theoretical analysis and illustrate the secrecy performance of the proposed scheme.

Transmit Solutions for MIMO Wiretap Channels using Alternating Optimization

This paper considers transmit optimization in multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wiretap channels, wherein we aim at maximizing the secrecy capacity or rate of an MIMO channel overheard by one or multiple eavesdroppers. Such optimization problems are nonconvex, and appear to be difficult especially in the multi-eavesdropper scenario. In this paper, we propose an alternating optimization (AO) approach to tackle these secrecy optimization problems. We first consider the secrecy capacity maximization (SCM) problem in the single eavesdropper scenario. An AO algorithm is derived through a judicious SCM reformulation. The algorithm conducts some kind of reweighting and water-filling in an alternating fashion, and thus is computationally efficient to implement. We also prove that the AO algorithm is guaranteed to converge to a Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) point of the SCM problem. Then, we turn our attention to the multiple eavesdropper scenario, where the artificial noise (AN)-aided secrecy rate maximization (SRM) problem is considered. Although the AN-aided SRM problem has a more complex problem structure than the previous SCM, we show that AO can be extended to deal with the former, wherein the problem is handled by solving convex problems in an alternating fashion. Again, the resulting AO method is proven to have KKT point convergence guarantee. For fast implementation, a custom-designed AO algorithm based on smoothing and projected gradient is also derived. The secrecy rate performance and computational efficiency of the proposed algorithms are demonstrated by simulations.