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IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM)

Secure information transmission in filter bank multi-carrier spread spectrum systems

Arslan Javaid Majid, Hussein Moradi, Behrouz Farhang‐Boroujeny

Published Oct 1, 2015• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper presents a novel method for generating a secret key to augment the security of spread spectrum systems. The proposed key generation takes advantage of the channel reciprocity exhibited between two communicating parties. We validate the key generation aspect of our system by using real-world measurements. We note that the strongest path in the channel impulse response can be the main source that will allow an adversary to generate a similar key to those of the legitimate nodes. We resolve this problem by introducing an augmentation that removes the strongest path from the channel impulse response before key generation. This augmentation, that we call strongest path cancellation (SPC), is found very effective. We also note that the generated keys need not be perfectly the same at the legitimate nodes, hence, the proposed method belongs to the class of fault tolerant secure communications. In this paper, without any loss of generality, we use the proposed key generation method as part of a filter bank multicarrier spread spectrum (FB-MC-SS) system, where robust performance against narrow and/or partial band interference is also guaranteed.

DOI
10.1109/milcom.2015.7357457

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This paper presents a novel method for generating a secret key to augment the security of spread spectrum systems. The proposed key generation takes advantage of the channel reciprocity exhibited between two communicating parties. We validate the key generation aspect of our system by using real-world measurements. We note that the strongest path in the channel impulse response can be the main source that will allow an adversary to generate a similar key to those of the legitimate nodes. We resolve this problem by introducing an augmentation that removes the strongest path from the channel impulse response before key generation. This augmentation, that we call strongest path cancellation (SPC), is found very effective. We also note that the generated keys need not be perfectly the same at the legitimate nodes, hence, the proposed method belongs to the class of fault tolerant secure communications. In this paper, without any loss of generality, we use the proposed key generation method as part of a filter bank multicarrier spread spectrum (FB-MC-SS) system, where robust performance against narrow and/or partial band interference is also guaranteed.
A fundamental characteristic of wireless communications is in its broadcast nature, which allows accessibility of information without placing restrictions on a user's location. However, accessibility also makes wireless communications vulnerable to eavesdropping. In this context, this paper presents a two-part secure information transmission system. The first part makes use of reciprocity in wireless channels to allow for two asynchronous transceivers to obtain a pair of similar keys. Moreover, a unique augmentation, called strongest path cancellation (SPC), is applied to the keys. In the second part, the concept of artificial noise is introduced to the spread spectrum systems. Keys generated in the first part are used in the spread spectrum system and artificial noise is added to enhance the security of the communications. Two attacks on the proposed security solution are evaluated. First, an adversary following the same steps as the legitimate users is considered. Here, simulation and experimentation results show that SPC provides a boost to security against this type of adversary. The second attack studies an adversary with significant blind detection capabilities. Our observations on this attack indicate that when an ample amount of artificial noise can be used, two legitimate parties can communicate multiple information symbols per key.
It has been shown that the radio channel impulse response for a pair of legitimate Ultra-wide band (UWB) transceivers can be used to generate secret keys for secure communications. Past proposed secret key generation algorithms under-exploited the available number of secret key bits from the radio channel. This paper proposes a new efficient method for generation of the shared key where the transceivers use LDPC decoders to resolve the differences in their channel impulse response measurements caused by measurement noise. To ensure secret key agreement, a method of public discussion between the two users is performed using the syndrome from Hamming (7,3) binary codes. An algorithm is proposed to check the equality of generated keys for both legitimate users, and ensure error-free secure communication. The security of this algorithm has been verified by AVISPA. Comparisons are performed with previous work on secret key generation and it has been shown that this algorithm reliably generates longer secret keys in standard UWB radio channels.
One effective way of generating and distributing secret keys for secure communication is to exploit the randomness of wireless channels. Since a potential eavesdropper has a different propagation channel than two legitimate users, it can be used to generate unique and secure keys. After reciprocal channel sounding, a frequency-selective channel can be quantised to produce the secret keys. Due to different sampling times at the two legitimate devices, the phase of the frequency response will not be equal and hence compromise the secret key generation. In this paper, we show how to overcome this problem and verify the results through both simulations and hardware measurements. We also compare scalar and vector quantisation, and show how the latter can be designed to be robust to synchronisation offsets.
A new technique for secure information transmission in a mobile environment is described. While the method may be used for secure cryptographic key distribution, it also enables the transmission of information in a secure manner without resort to any cryptographic techniques. This is achieved by using the short term reciprocity of the mobile radio channel to communicate in a two step process. In the first step, the phase response of the channel is probed, and in the second step the information bearing signal is modified to pre-compensate for the phase effects of the channel. Since the channel impulse response between two users is different from the channel impulse responses between the users and an adversary, the method is secure.
Physical layer security key generation exploits unpredictable features from wireless channels to achieve high security, which requires high reciprocity in order to set up symmetric keys between two users. This paper investigates enhancing the channel reciprocity using a loop-back scheme with multiple frequency bands in time-division duplex (TDD) communication systems, in order to mitigate the effect of hardware fingerprint interference and synchronization offset. The scheme is evaluated to be robust to passive eavesdropping and active Man-in-the-Middle attack through both theoretical analyses and practical measurements. A secret key generation protocol is subsequently designed. The performance of the proposed secret key generation method is then evaluated through both numerical simulation and experiments. Results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can effectively mitigate non-reciprocity and outperforms the classical TDD scheme in both key disagreement rate and key generation rate.
Secure communication in a wireless environment is very vital, and cryptographic schemes are usually used to ensure it. Secret keys that are unknown to the tappers are needed by cryptographic schemes to secure communication between two legitimate users. In recent years the secret key generation scheme that utilizes a wireless channel as a secret key generation source has become a very interesting and promising topic. The main problem of this scheme is the high wireless channel mismatch between two users due to nonsimultaneous measurements and noise from the device. In this paper, we proposed a secret key generation scheme that uses the Savitzky-Golay filter method to reduce the high mismatch wireless channel. The scheme that was built was also equipped with a multibit quantization method to increase the speed of generation of secret keys. The results of our tests show a decrease in wireless channel mismatch between two users and an increase in the speed of generation of secret keys.