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Physical Layer Security of Space-Division Multiplexed Fiber-Optic Communication Systems in the Presence of Multiple Eavesdroppers

Kyle Guan, Peter J. Winzer, Antonia Maria Tulino, Emina Soljanin

Published Dec 1, 2015• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the information-theoretic security of multiple-input-multiple-output space-division multiplexed (MIMO-SDM) fiber-optic communication systems in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers. In particular, we analyze the achievable secrecy rate for the two special cases that reflect different capabilities of the eavesdroppers: independent eavesdroppers who do not share received information and colluding (cooperating) eavesdroppers who can combine and jointly process the received signals. Our results show that MIMO-SDM systems are robust against multiple independent tapping attacks, in the sense that the average achievable secrecy rate is strictly positive even with an infinite number of eavesdroppers. Though extremely difficult to implement in practice, if all the eavesdroppers could cooperate coherently, the average secrecy rate decreases quickly with the number of eavesdroppers. As such, to counter the colluding eavesdroppers, a combination of much higher SNR for the legitimate receiver and higher mode-dependent loss (MDL) for the eavesdroppers is needed.

DOI
10.1109/glocom.2015.7417679

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In this paper, we examine the information-theoretic security of multiple-input-multiple-output space-division multiplexed (MIMO-SDM) fiber-optic communication systems in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers. In particular, we analyze the achievable secrecy rate for the two special cases that reflect different capabilities of the eavesdroppers: independent eavesdroppers who do not share received information and colluding (cooperating) eavesdroppers who can combine and jointly process the received signals. Our results show that MIMO-SDM systems are robust against multiple independent tapping attacks, in the sense that the average achievable secrecy rate is strictly positive even with an infinite number of eavesdroppers. Though extremely difficult to implement in practice, if all the eavesdroppers could cooperate coherently, the average secrecy rate decreases quickly with the number of eavesdroppers. As such, to counter the colluding eavesdroppers, a combination of much higher SNR for the legitimate receiver and higher mode-dependent loss (MDL) for the eavesdroppers is needed.
In this paper, we examine the information-theoretic security of multiple-input-multiple-output space-division multiplexed (MIMO-SDM) fiber-optic communication systems in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers. In particular, we analyze the achievable secrecy rate for the two special cases that reflect different capabilities of the eavesdroppers: independent eavesdroppers who do not share received information and colluding (cooperating) eavesdroppers who can combine and jointly process the received signals. Our results show that MIMO-SDM systems are robust against multiple independent tapping attacks, in the sense that the average achievable secrecy rate is strictly positive even with an infinite number of eavesdroppers. Though extremely difficult to implement in practice, if all the eavesdroppers could cooperate coherently, the average secrecy rate decreases quickly with the number of eavesdroppers. As such, to counter the colluding eavesdroppers, a combination of much higher SNR for the legitimate receiver and higher mode-dependent loss (MDL) for the eavesdroppers is needed.
Space-division multiplexed (SDM) fiber optic transmission systems can not only increase system capacity, but also achieve physical-layer security against fiber tapping attacks. In this paper, we examine the information-theoretic security of optical multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) SDM by evaluating the tradeoff between the achievable information rate and the confidentiality for different channel dynamics. In particular, we provide problem formulations for secure communication over these channels and study three types of secrecy capacities: 1) guaranteed capacity; 2) outage capacity; and 3) average capacity, each serving as a performance metric for a coding strategy tailored to a specific type of MIMO-SDM channel. We also assess the impact of key system parameters, such as the number of modes, the mode-dependent loss (MDL), and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), on the various secrecy capacities. Our results indicate that, with a proper design of channel codes that balance information rate and security, an SDM system has the potential of offering confidential data transmission at a rate that could be orders of magnitude higher than what can be achieved through other means of encryption. Moreover, we show that MDL, unavoidably induced by fiber tapping, can allow information-theoretic security even if the SNR of the eavesdropper's receiver is better than that of the legitimate receiver.
Recent developments in the field of space-division multiplexing (SDM) for fiber-optic communication systems suggest that the spatial diversity offered by SDMcan be used not only to increase system capacity, but also to achieve provable security against physical layer attacks. In this work, we outline some of the mathematical framework necessary to assess the security benefits of the SDM. We substantiate our conjecture that allocating the maximal allowable power to each mode is optimal in terms of physical layer security. Further more, we expand the scope of our security analyses to include distortion as a quantitative metric for secrecy and study how the rate of reliable communication between the legitimate transmitter-receiver pair can be chosen to maximize reconstruction (decoding) errors of the eavesdropper.
Recent developments in the field of space-division multiplexing (SDM) for fiber-optic communication systems suggest that the spatial diversity offered by SDM can be used not only to increase system capacity, but also to achieve provable security against physical layer attacks. We examine the information-theoretic security of SDM with a focus on frequency-selective and rapidly-varying frequency-flat channels. We analytically evaluate the outage-free secrecy capacity - the maximal data rate that guarantees perfect security within a class of channel realizations. Using analysis and simulations, we evaluate the impact of key system parameters on the secrecy capacity of SDM systems. Our results show that, with a proper code design that balances the trade-off between data rate and confidentiality, we can take full advantage of SDM to offer a secure information rate that could be orders of magnitude higher than what can be achieved through quantum key distribution (QKD).
We propose a chaotic spatial symbol transforming encryption method for enhancing the physical layer security in fiber-optic systems based on space-division multiplexed (SDM) transmission. The designed 3-D chaotic sequences are used to scramble the real and imaginary part of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) symbols, permute the symbol-to-space mapping, and control iteration times between the two processes. The encrypted transmission of 200 Gb/s per mode polarization-division-multiplexed 16QAM signals has been simulated over 1000-km two-mode fiber. The results show that the eavesdropper cannot recover the original information with a part of the security keys or a part of the transmitted signals when the iteration times are beyond 5. We found the error spreading phenomenon can be combined with the mode-dependent loss (MDL) to realize the system security enhancement. When eavesdroppers coupled signals out from SDM waveguide by bending-induced fiber tapping, they need reduce the bend radius to receive more spatial leak modes. The bending-induced fiber tapping inherently causes MDL. Although the error spreading phenomenon leads to bit-error-rate increasing by 1.3 dB than conventional 16QAM transmission, it will be a promising solution to overcome the weakness that the huge amount of data can be compromised by taping out the portion of the signal in single-mode transmission.