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arXiv:2404.16481 · International ITG Workshop on Smart Antennas

Secret Key Generation Rates for Line of Sight Multipath Channels in the Presence of Eavesdroppers

Amitha Mayya, Arsenia Chorti, Rafael F. Schaefer, Gerhard Paul Fettweis

Published Mar 17, 2024• 0 citations
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Abstract

In this paper, the feasibility of implementing a lightweight key distribution scheme using physical layer security for secret key generation (SKG) is explored. Specifically, we focus on examining SKG with the received signal strength (RSS) serving as the primary source of shared randomness. Our investigation centers on a frequency-selective line-of-sight (LoS) multipath channel, with a particular emphasis on assessing SKG rates derived from the distributions of RSS. We derive the received signal distributions based on how the multipath components resolve at the receiver. The mutual information (MI) is evaluated based on LoS 3GPP channel models using a numerical estimator. We study how the bandwidth, delay spread, and Rician K-factor impact the estimated MI. This MI then serves as a benchmark setting bounds for the SKG rates in our exploration.

DOI
10.1109/wsa61681.2024.10511979

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•Apr 1, 2015•3 citations
In this paper, the feasibility of implementing a lightweight key distribution scheme using physical layer security for secret key generation (SKG) is explored. Specifically, we focus on examining SKG with the received signal strength (RSS) serving as the primary source of shared randomness. Our investigation centers on a frequency-selective line-of-sight (LoS) multipath channel, with a particular emphasis on assessing SKG rates derived from the distributions of RSS. We derive the received signal distributions based on how the multipath components resolve at the receiver. The mutual information (MI) is evaluated based on LoS 3GPP channel models using a numerical estimator. We study how the bandwidth, delay spread, and Rician K-factor impact the estimated MI. This MI then serves as a benchmark setting bounds for the SKG rates in our exploration.
The emergence of Internet of things (IoT) applications brings the challenge of finding lightweight schemes for secret key distribution. A promising solution coming from the physical layer is the so called secret key generation (SKG) from shared randomness. SKG allows two communicating parties to extract the shared randomness already present in wireless channels. This work investigates the achievable SKG rates using received signal strength (RSS) as a key generation parameter. A multi-path scenario is considered and the probability density function of the RSS in different channel conditions is evaluated. Next, through a numerical evaluation, the SKG rates are derived in the form of mutual information (MI) estimates, using a 3GPP standard channel model. The simulations are performed for different values of bandwidth and delay spread. We demonstrate that while both parameters have similar impact on how multi-path components are resolved, their effect on the MI is opposite.
In this paper, we evaluate the achievable rates of the physical layer security (PLS)-based secret key generation (SKG) in a line-of-sight (LoS) channel, which occurs with a high probability in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communications. SKG is a promising technique for lightweight scalable key distribution, and, despite the mature theory of PLS, this technique remains to be seen in practical applications. Thus, modelling realistic scenarios is of particular interest. One of the reasons why SKG has not been used in practice is due to the deterministic properties of LoS channels. To overcome this problem, in this paper we propose the rotation of the device antennas as an entropy source, reflected by the channel phases, from which the keys are derived. Simulation results show that by utilizing rotation in LoS scenarios, a number of secret bits can be generated, also given the presence of an eavesdropper. It is also shown that by controlling the transmit power we can maximize the conditional mutual information.
Physical layer security (PLS) techniques hold promise for augmenting secure communications in the 5thgeneration of mobile wireless networks. Secret key generation (SKG) is a PLS technique which exploits the wireless propagation channel's randomness to generate symmetric key bits for information encryption and decryption. This work proposes symmetric key generation based on non-uniform quantization of the received signal strength (RSS) samples of a Nakagami-mmm fading channel. The proposed strategy for non-uniform quantization for SKG aims to set quantization thresholds for maximal key randomness and high values of key generation rate (KGR) and key agreement probability (KAP). Finally, a framework is proposed to use single node RSS measurements, readily available in the literature, to generate RSS samples at the other link end. This framework facilitates the testing of new SKG algorithms that require simultaneous RSS measurements by the legitimate nodes, which are not readily available in the open literature. The effectiveness of the proposed SKG scheme is validated through Monte Carlo methods and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) test suite for assessing the randomness of the generated key sequence.
The sixth generation of wireless networks (6G) is expected to support the deployment of Internet of things (IoT) devices in massive scales. Finding lightweight and decentralized secret-key distribution primitives is therefore a challenge. Secret-key generation (SKG) from wireless channel coefficients is seen as a possible solution. It allows the extraction of secret keys using the channel randomness observed at the physical layer, without a centralized key distribution server. In this work an SKG approach suitable for wideband IoT devices is proposed. We investigate a filterbank-based SKG method, in which secret bits are generated through power measurements over different frequencies. To minimize dependencies and correlation among frequencies the quantile and the Karhunen-Loeve transforms are used. Finally, we perform a numerical evaluation of the achievable SKG rates, in the form of mutual-information (MI) estimates, using 3GPP channel models. Our numerical evaluation shows that the achievable SKG rate depends on the channel statistics, and, hence, to optimally harvest the information, devices need to be channel-aware.
Secret-key generation (SKG) at physical layer is considered as a promising solution for lightweight key distribution. On the analysis of the secret-key capacity over multipath fading channels, existing studies generally neglect the channel observation method, which has a direct impact on the secret-key capacity. Moreover, there is a lack of concise and interpretable expressions for the secret-key capacity based on the channel state information. Motivated by the above, we analyze the performance of SKG based on MMSE estimation of channel impulse response over multipath fading channels. The general expression of secret-key capacity is derived. We find that the secret-key capacity depends on the estimation signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of channel-tap gains. Then, the condensed-parameter expressions of exact secret-key capacity and the expressions of asymptotic secret-key capacity at high SNR are derived in two specific PDP cases. We show that the bandwidth and the transmission SNR determine the upper bound of secret-key capacity over channels with different degrees of freedom for the flat PDP case. In addition, we find that the asymptotic secret-key capacities under these two PDPs follow a uniform form, which is a linear function of the channel estimation SNR (in dB). Finally, we simulate the channel probing process under different transmission and channel parameters and exploit the simulated channel estimates to estimate the secret-key capacity through numerical methods. The simulation results demonstrate the theoretical analysis and conclusions.
Secret key generation (SKG) from the randomness provided by random channels is currently considered as one way to improve security in wireless communications at the physical layer level. However, the relation between the performance of SKG schemes and the characteristics of the radio channel has been moderately investigated. In this work, we evaluate the security performance on the basis of a simple channel model based on scatterers distributed around terminals, which enables going beyond the common assumption of spatial stationarity between the legitimate terminal and the eavesdropper. This performance is assessed both from information theory metrics and from a practical key extraction algorithm. Owing to the model flexibility, we evaluate the impact of several major channel characteristics such as the distribution and density of scatterers or the existence of a dominant LOS path.