This article considers an artificial noise (AN)-aided secure MIMO wireless communication system. To enhance the system security performance, the advanced intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is invoked, and the base station (BS), legitimate information receiver (IR) and eavesdropper (Eve) are equipped with multiple antennas. With the aim for maximizing the secrecy rate (SR), the transmit precoding (TPC) matrix at the BS, covariance matrix of AN and phase shifts at the IRS are jointly optimized subject to constrains of transmit power limit and unit modulus of IRS phase shifts. Then, the secrecy rate maximization (SRM) problem is formulated, which is a non-convex problem with multiple coupled variables. To tackle it, we propose to utilize the block coordinate descent (BCD) algorithm to alternately update the variables while keeping SR non-decreasing. Specifically, the optimal TPC matrix and AN covariance matrix are derived by Lagrangian multiplier method, and the optimal phase shifts are obtained by Majorization-Minimization (MM) algorithm. Since all variables can be calculated in closed form, the proposed algorithm is very efficient. We also extend the SRM problem to the more general multiple-IRs scenario and propose a BCD algorithm to solve it. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of system security enhancement via an IRS.
This article considers an artificial noise (AN)-aided secure MIMO wireless communication system. To enhance the system security performance, the advanced intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is invoked, and the base station (BS), legitimate information receiver (IR) and eavesdropper (Eve) are equipped with multiple antennas. With the aim for maximizing the secrecy rate (SR), the transmit precoding (TPC) matrix at the BS, covariance matrix of AN and phase shifts at the IRS are jointly optimized subject to constrains of transmit power limit and unit modulus of IRS phase shifts. Then, the secrecy rate maximization (SRM) problem is formulated, which is a non-convex problem with multiple coupled variables. To tackle it, we propose to utilize the block coordinate descent (BCD) algorithm to alternately update the variables while keeping SR non-decreasing. Specifically, the optimal TPC matrix and AN covariance matrix are derived by Lagrangian multiplier method, and the optimal phase shifts are obtained by Majorization-Minimization (MM) algorithm. Since all variables can be calculated in closed form, the proposed algorithm is very efficient. We also extend the SRM problem to the more general multiple-IRs scenario and propose a BCD algorithm to solve it. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of system security enhancement via an IRS.
This paper considers a movable antenna (MA)-aided secure multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system consisting of a base station (BS), a legitimate information receiver (IR) and an eavesdropper (Eve), where the BS is equipped with MAs to enhance the system’s physical layer security (PLS). Specifically, we aim to maximize the secrecy rate (SR) by jointly optimizing the transmit precoding (TPC) matrix, the artificial noise (AN) covariance matrix and the MAs’ positions under the constraints of the maximum transmit power and the minimum spacing between MAs. To solve this non-convex problem with highly coupled optimization variables, the block coordinate descent (BCD) method is applied to alternately update the variables. Specifically, we first reformulate the SR into a tractable form, and derive the optimal TPC matrix and the AN covariance matrix with fixed MAs’ positions by applying the Lagrangian multiplier method in semi-closed forms. Then, the majorization-minimization (MM) algorithm is employed to iteratively optimize each MA’s position while keeping others fixed. We also extend this work to the more general multicast scenario. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and the significant advantages of the MAs over conventional fixed position antennas (FPAs) in enhancing system’s security.
Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) provides an energy-efficient way to construct channels and enables the joint transceiver and channel design. In this paper, we consider the analysis and design of IRS-aided multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) secure communications. We first investigate the fundamental limits of IRS-aided wiretap MIMO communications by determining the ergodic secrecy rate (ESR) and secrecy outage probability (SOP), which are not yet available in the literature. For that purpose, we derive the central limit theorem (CLT) for the joint distribution of the mutual information (MI) statistics over IRS-aided MIMO wiretap channels by utilizing random matrix theory (RMT). The CLT is then used to obtain the closed-form expressions for ESR and SOP, which are also extended to the scenario with multiple multi-antenna eavesdroppers. Based on the theoretical results, algorithms for maximizing the artificial noise (AN)-aided ESR and minimizing SOP are proposed. Numerical simulations validate the accuracy of the theoretical results and effectiveness of the proposed optimization algorithms.
In this modern era, wireless networks continue to expand worldwide and play a pronounced role in daily life. However, wireless communication has become vulnerable to intelligent invaders in the network. Hence, the security aspects of wireless communication have been the center of modern-era research. Physical Layer Security (PLS) schemes have been proven to be very effective against potential eavesdroppers thanks to their low-complexity nature compared to encryption techniques. Therefore, this thesis is dedicated to the physical layer security of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. More specifically, we provide efficient optimization techniques to maximize the achievable secrecy rate of MIMO Wiretap channels (WTC). First, we present novel numerical approaches to finding the achievable secrecy rate of the MIMO WTC subject to multiple power constraints. There is a challenge in deriving computationally efficient solutions to the secrecy rate maximization problem because the secrecy rate is expressed as a difference of convex functions (DC) of the transmit covariance matrix. However, to deal with it, we provided local optimization methods, such as the accelerated DC algorithm (ADCA) and a numerical method named partial best response algorithm (PBRA) based on the concave-convex equivalent reformulation of the secrecy capacity problem. Along with it, we provide a convex reformulation for degraded channels. Interestingly, our experiments have shown that the local optimization methods achieve global optimality for the secrecy rate maximization problem under power constraints. In this regard, we provide analytical proof with Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions to validate our observation. Motivated by our finding, we propose an accelerated gradient projection algorithm with adaptive momentum parameters (AGPnc) that directly solves the secrecy rate maximization problem rather than the equivalent convex-concave form. We then extend the scope of our research of physical layer security enhancement by considering the Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-aided MIMO WTC system, as the IRS has achieved enormous attention recently for enhancement in spectral efficiency. In this context, we provided a numerical solution for the problem of maximizing the achievable secrecy rate of the considered system by jointly optimizing the input covariance matrix and the IRS phase shifts. The proposed is an iterative method based on block successive maximization (BSM) where each iteration is done in closed form. We then extend our research further toward maximizing the secrecy energy efficiency (SEE) of the (IRS)-aided MIMO WTC system. In relation to the SEE maximization problem, we provide a low-complexity based local optimization method. The challenge of this considered problem is the coupling between design variables in both the objective and the constraint. The main idea of the proposed method is to apply a penalty dual decomposition based alternating gradient projection (PDDAPG) method to obtain an efficient solution. Thanks to the low complexity nature of proposed methods, these methods can scale favourably with large-scale wireless systems, which has been an inherent issue of the existing studies. In this way, the contributions of this thesis will significantly impact future research in the field of physical layer security, especially toward the future generation of wireless communication.
The joint design of secure precoding and artificial noise (AN) transmission scheme is promising to improve secrecy performance. However, in downlink multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems with multiple eavesdroppers, joint design of secure precoding and AN structure involves several challenges: an objective function is non-convex and non-smooth, and a precoding matrix and AN matrix have different design principles. Classically, to jointly design precoding and AN covariance matrix, an alternating optimization approach is used which has limitations in terms of the secrecy rate performance since it does not offer joint and simultaneous optimization of the precoding and AN covariance matrices. In this paper, we propose a novel optimization framework that optimizes the precoder and the AN covariance matrix jointly and simultaneously to maximize the secrecy rate. First, we approximate the objective function to a tractable non-convex form. Next, we derive the first-order optimality condition by leveraging the nonlinear eigenvalue problem (NEP) form. Finally, we utilize an efficient technique with low computational complexity for identifying the major eigenvector of the NEP which corresponds to the best stationary point. Simulations illustrate that the proposed methods enhance the secrecy rate performance compared to the existing secure precoding methods.
In this paper, we consider a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) secure communication system, where only legitimate user's (Bob's) statistical channel state information (CSI) can be obtained at the transmitter (Alice), while eavesdropper's (Eve's) CSI is unknown. Firstly, the analytical expression of the achievable ergodic rate at Bob is obtained. Then, by exploiting Bob's statistical CSI, we jointly design the transmit covariance matrix at Alice and the phase shift matrix at the RIS to minimize the transmit power of the information signal under the quality-of-service (QoS) constraint of Bob. Finally, we propose an artificial noise (AN)-aided method without Eve's CSI to enhance the security of this system and use the residual power to design the transmit covariance for AN. Simulation results verify the convergence of the proposed method, and also show that there exists a trade-off between the secrecy rate and QoS of Bob.
The potential of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) for energy-efficient and performance-boosted wireless communications is recently gaining remarkable research attention, motivating their consideration for various 5-th Generation (5G) Advanced and beyond applications. In this paper, we consider a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Physical Layer Security (PLS) system with multiple data streams including one legitimate passive RIS and one malicious passive RIS, with the former being transparent to the multi-antenna eavesdropper and the latter’s presence being unknown at the legitimate multi-antenna transceivers. We first present a novel threat model for the RIS-boosted eavesdropping system and design a joint optimization framework for the eavesdropper’s receive combining matrix and the reflection coefficients of the malicious RIS. Focusing next on the secrecy rate maximization problem, we present an RIS-empowered PLS scheme that jointly designs the legitimate precoding matrix and number of data streams, the Artificial Noise (AN) covariance matrix, the receive combining matrix, and the reflection coefficients of the legitimate RIS. The proposed optimization algorithms, whose convergence to at least local optimum points is proved, are based on alternating maximization, minorization-maximization, and manifold optimization, including semi-closed form expressions for the optimization variables. Our extensive simulation results for two representative system setups reveal that, in the absence of a legitimate RIS, transceiver spatial filtering and AN are incapable of offering non-zero secrecy rates, even for malicious RISs with small numbers of elements. However, when anL-element legitimate RIS is deployed, confidential communication can be safeguarded against eavesdropping systems possessing even more than a5L-element malicious RIS.