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IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM)

MIMO transmissions with information-theoretic secrecy for secret-key agreement in wireless networks

Xiaohua Li, E. Paul Ratazzi

Published Jan 1, 2005• 50 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Information-theoretic secrecy gives the strongest information security that is important for military wireless networks. In this paper, we show that randomized MIMO transmissions can achieve such secrecy. A method is proposed to randomize the MIMO transmission coefficients. The received signal of the adversary has some special statistical distributions, based on which the indeterminacy of the adversary's blind deconvolution is proved. Receiving error rates and secret channel capacity are analyzed and simulated. This paper points out a practical way to realize the well-known wire-tap channel for perfect secrecy, which is one of the interesting challenges in information theory. The proposed method is also useful for key management in military wireless networks.

DOI
10.1109/milcom.2005.1605866

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Information-theoretic secrecy gives the strongest information security that is important for military wireless networks. In this paper, we show that randomized MIMO transmissions can achieve such secrecy. A method is proposed to randomize the MIMO transmission coefficients. The received signal of the adversary has some special statistical distributions, based on which the indeterminacy of the adversary's blind deconvolution is proved. Receiving error rates and secret channel capacity are analyzed and simulated. This paper points out a practical way to realize the well-known wire-tap channel for perfect secrecy, which is one of the interesting challenges in information theory. The proposed method is also useful for key management in military wireless networks.
In contrast to the pessimistic view on perfect secrecy, studies on information-theoretic secrecy have shown that perfect secrecy may be possible in practice. A typical example is the Wyner’s wire-tap channel concept. However, existing approaches mostly depend on unrealistic noise or error-rate assumptions. We propose a more practical way in this paper which uses advanced space-time transmissions for enhanced information-theoretical secrecy. Based on the fundamental limits of MIMO blind channel identification, space-time transmissions with proper randomization can effectively prevent the adversary from channel estimation while allowing reliable transmission between the authorized parties. The high error rate suffered by the adversary enhances secret channel capacity. This paper points out a new and practical approach for secret-key agreement which achieves perfect secrecy based on the physical-layer signal processing techniques.
An important building block of the cross-layer network security design is the physical-layer security which addresses problems such as whether the physical-layer can have build-in security and whether physical-layer techniques can assist the upper-layer encryption-based security techniques. This paper provides a positive answer by realizing information-theoretic secrecy with space-time transmissions. While most existing results on information-theoretic secrecy rely on some impractical assumptions, we propose a more practical approach that uses the redundancy of space-time transmissions to create intentional ambiguity to the adversary. Secrecy can be guaranteed even if the adversary has extremely high receiving signal-to-noise ratio. This approach is presented as a new way for secret-key agreement. Simulations in terms of receiving error rate and secret channel capacity are presented.
An emerging area of interest in wireless security is the generation of secret encryption keys by leveraging the features of the physical propagation channel. The shared randomness of the wireless channel between two legitimate nodes in a communication network is exploited to provide strong secrecy. The secret keys are generated based on fluctuations or evolution of the wireless channel state. However, to the best of our knowledge, little work has been performed on algorithms to exploit the increased randomness available to wireless nodes equipped with MIMO antennas. In this paper, we present a practical key generation scheme for MIMO channels based on quantization performed on blind channel estimates. Our schemes generate random keys for transmitter and receiver by simultaneously quantizing the blind channel estimates. Our schemes are simulated for a realistic fading channel model, and performance metrics for error rate and efficiency are provided.
Encryption of confidential data with a secret key has become a widespread technique for securing wireless transmissions. However, existing key distribution methods that either deliver the secret key with a key distribution center or exchange the secret key using public-key cryptosystems are unable to establish perfect secret keys necessary for symmetric encryption techniques. This research considers secret key establishment, under the broad research area of information theoretic security, using the reciprocal wireless channel as common randomness for the extraction of perfect secret keys in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)communication systems. The presentation discusses the fundamental characteristics of the time-variant MIMO wireless channel and establishes a realistic channel simulation model useful for assessing key establishment algorithms. Computational examples show the accuracy and applicability of the model. The discussion then turns to an investigation of the influence of the spatial and temporal correlation of the channel coefficients on the bound of the key size generated from the common channel, and it is found that a sampling approach exists that can generate a key using the minimum sampling time. A practical key generation protocol is then developed based on an enhancement of a published channel coefficient quantization method that incorporates flexible quantization levels, public transmission of the correlation eigenvector matrix and low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding to improve key agreement. This investigation leads to the development of improved channel quantization techniques that dynamically shift the quantization boundaries at one node based on the information provided by the other node. Analysis based on a closed-form bound for the key error rate (KER) and simulations based on the channel model and measurement data show that the enhanced algorithms are able to dramatically reduce key mismatch and asymptotically approach the KER bound. Finally, other secret key generation algorithms based on channel-encryption rather than quantization are discussed, leading to a new concept for secret key generation using the common wireless channel.
In MIMO wireless channels, channel estimation can provide a source of randomness common to sender and receiver that may be used to generate secret keys. These keys can provide information theoretically secure communication. Alternatively, a known MIMO channel allows transmitting artificial noise in the null space of the main channel to secure communication. In this paper, we show that both methods can be combined to further enhance secrecy. Symbols encrypted at the transmitter simultaneously act as message for the intended receiver and as noise for any potential eavesdroppers. We derive expressions for the minimum-guaranteeable secrecy rate as a function of number of symbols encrypted. Given at least one symbol can be encrypted, our proposed method outperforms the standard artificial noise scheme in terms of both secrecy rate and power expenditure. We first analyze the system assuming keys can be instantaneously extracted from channel measurements. We then derive bounds for rates assuming the overhead time required for key generation produces a Gaussian channel-estimation error.
A scheme based on projection operator is proposed to guarantee the information theoretical security in MIMO physical layer transmission.The transmitter has multiple antennas and is able to simultaneously transmit separately information bearing signal to the intended receiver and randomized interference to the eavesdropper in the projection space.An iterative algorithm of power allocation between them is given according to the secret channel capacity criteria.Based on the special statistical distributions of the adversary’s received signal,the indeterminacy of its blind deconvolution is proved.Numerical results indicate that the secret channel capacity of this scheme is enhanced with reduced bit error rate at the target user,while the eavesdropper can not demodulate correctly.