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arXiv:2209.14050 · IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security

Optimality of the Proper Gaussian Signal in Complex MIMO Wiretap Channels

Dong Yong, Yinfei Xu, Tong Zhang, Yili Xia

Published Nov 28, 2023• 1 citation
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Abstract

The multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wiretap channel (WTC) serves as a fundamental model for exploring information-theoretic secrecy in wireless communication systems, involving a transmitter, a legitimate user, and an eavesdropper. This paper investigates the optimality of proper complex signals in complex WTCs. Our primary contribution lies in the derivation of a determinant inequality, which establishes that the secrecy rate of degraded complex MIMO WTCs is maximized when the signal is proper, meaning that its pseudo-covariance matrix is a zero matrix. Remarkably, we extend this result beyond the degraded scenario to the general complex WTC by leveraging a min-max reformulation of the secrecy capacity. Thus, we demonstrate that focusing on proper signals is sufficient when examining the secrecy capacity of the complex WTC. Overall, this work highlights the significance of the determinant inequality we derive and its implications for optimizing secrecy rates in the complex WTC.

DOI
10.1109/tifs.2023.3337719

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The multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wiretap channel (WTC) serves as a fundamental model for exploring information-theoretic secrecy in wireless communication systems, involving a transmitter, a legitimate user, and an eavesdropper. This paper investigates the optimality of proper complex signals in complex WTCs. Our primary contribution lies in the derivation of a determinant inequality, which establishes that the secrecy rate of degraded complex MIMO WTCs is maximized when the signal is proper, meaning that its pseudo-covariance matrix is a zero matrix. Remarkably, we extend this result beyond the degraded scenario to the general complex WTC by leveraging a min-max reformulation of the secrecy capacity. Thus, we demonstrate that focusing on proper signals is sufficient when examining the secrecy capacity of the complex WTC. Overall, this work highlights the significance of the determinant inequality we derive and its implications for optimizing secrecy rates in the complex WTC.
Secure signaling over multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wiretap channel (WTC) is studied under interference and transmit power constraints. The classical MIMO WTC model is extended to interference-limited scenarios, so that interference to other users does not exceed a given threshold while ensuring simultaneously no information leakage to an eavesdropper. The operational secrecy capacity of the Gaussian MIMO WTC under interference and transmit power constraints is rigorously established in two forms (a non-convex max problem and a convex-concave max-min problem), to which per-antenna power constraints can be added as well. Optimal signaling directions are characterized in the general case, from which (tight) upper bounds to the rank of optimal transmit covariance matrix are derived. A sufficient condition for the optimality of beamforming and a necessary condition for optimal full-rank signaling are given. Closed-form rank-1 and high-rank solutions are obtained in the case of zero interference constraints. Sufficient and necessary conditions for non-zero secrecy capacity are established. The results are extended to multi-user scenarios. A sufficient and necessary condition for the unbounded growth of the secrecy capacity with transmit power is obtained. The interplay between transmit and interference power constraints is studied, and its significant impact on optimal signaling is demonstrated (so that neither constraint can be absorbed into the other one in general, as was sometimes suggested in the literature). Overall, these results provide insights into fundamental information-theoretic limits and optimal signaling strategies for secure communications under interference constraints.
Secrecy rate maximization in Gaussian MIMO wiretap channels is considered. While the optimality of Gaussian signaling and a general expression for the secrecy capacity have been well established, closed-form solutions for the optimal transmit covariance matrix are known for some special cases only, while the general case remains an open problem. This chapter reviews known closed-form solutions and presents a numerical algorithm for the general case with guaranteed convergence to the global optimum. The known solutions include full-rank and rank-1 cases (which, when combined, provide a complete solution for the case of two transmit antennas), the case of identical right singular vectors for the eavesdropper and legitimate channels, and the cases of weak, isotropic, and omnidirectional eavesdroppers, which also provide lower and upper bounds to the general case. Necessary optimality conditions and a tight upper bound for the rank of the optimal covariance matrix in the general case are discussed. Sufficient and necessary conditions for the optimality of three popular signaling strategies over MIMO channels, namely, isotropic and zero-forcing signaling as well as water-filling over the legitimate channel eigenmodes, are presented. The chapter closes with a detailed description of a numerical globally convergent algorithm to solve the general case, and gives some illustrative examples. Introduction Due to their high spectral efficiency, wireless MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) systems are widely adopted by academia and industry. The broadcast nature of wireless channels stimulated significant interest in their security aspects and the Gaussian MIMO wiretap channel (WTC) has emerged as a popular model to study information theoretic secrecy aspects of wireless systems [1]. A number of results have been obtained for this model, including the proof of optimality of Gaussian signaling [1–4], which is far from trivial and significantly more involved than that of the regular (no wiretap) MIMO channel. Once the functional form of the optimal input is established, the only unknown is its covariance matrix since the mean is always zero. This latter part has not been solved yet in the general case; only a number of special cases have been settled.
Privacy is a critical issue when communicating over shared mediums. A fundamental model for the information-theoretic analysis of secure communications is the wiretap channel (WTC), which consists of a communicating pair and an eavesdropper. In this work we study the secrecy capacity of Gaussian multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) WTCs with finite memory. These channels are very common in wireless communications as well as in wireline communications (e.g., in power line communications). We derive a closed-form expression for the secrecy capacity of the MIMO Gaussian WTC with finite memory via the analysis of an equivalent block-memoryless model, which is transformed into a set of parallel independent memoryless MIMO WTCs. The secrecy capacity is expressed as the maximization over the input covariance matrices in the frequency domain. Finally, we show that for the Gaussian scalar WTC with finite memory, the secrecy capacity can be obtained by waterfilling.
We consider a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Gaussian wiretap channel model, where there exists a transmitter, a legitimate receiver and an eavesdropper, each node equipped with multiple antennas. We study the problem of finding the optimal input covariance that achieves secrecy capacity subject to a power constraint, which in general leads to a difficult non-convex optimization problem. For the Gaussian multiple-input single-output (MISO) wiretap channel where there exists a transmitter equipped with multiple antennas, a legitimate receiver and an eavesdropper each equipped with one antenna, the optimal input covariance is obtained in closed form. For the general case, we derive the necessary conditions for the optimal input covariance in the form of a set of equations. We show that for MISO case, the derived conditions guarantee the optimal input covariance. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the proposed theoretical findings.
We consider a Gaussian multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wiretap channel model, where there exists a transmitter, a legitimate receiver and an eavesdropper, each node equipped with multiple antennas. We study the problem of finding the optimal input covariance matrix that achieves secrecy capacity subject to a power constraint, which leads to a non-convex optimization problem that is in general difficult to solve. Existing results for this problem address the case in which the transmitter and the legitimate receiver have two antennas each and the eavesdropper has one antenna. For the general cases, it has been shown that the optimal input covariance matrix has low rank when the difference between the Grams of the eavesdropper and the legitimate receiver channel matrices is indefinite or semi-definite, while it may have low rank or full rank when the difference is positive definite. In this paper, the aforementioned non-convex optimization problem is investigated. In particular, for the multiple-input single-output (MISO) wiretap channel, the optimal input covariance matrix is obtained in closed form. For general cases, we derive the necessary conditions for the optimal input covariance matrix consisting of a set of equations. For the case in which the transmitter has two antennas, the derived necessary conditions can result in a closed form solution; For the case in which the difference between the Grams is indefinite and has all negative eigenvalues except one positive eigenvalue, the optimal input covariance matrix has rank one and can be obtained in closed form; For other cases, the solution is proved to be a fixed point of a mapping from a convex set to itself and an iterative procedure is provided to search for it. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the proposed theoretical findings.