Relay transmission can expand the coverage area and improve the communication reliability. However, it may face higher eavesdropping risk due to the additional relay-destination retransmission, which provides eavesdroppers with a second chance to intercept the confidential message. To guarantee the communication secrecy, specially designed transmission strategies are needed. In this paper, we concentrate on the secrecy assurance of a relay network, which is surrounded by colluding eavesdroppers with unknown locations. Specifically, we aim to maximize the secrecy rate by jointly optimizing the power allocation and relay placement. First, we derive the exact expression of the secrecy outage probability. After imposing a constraint on the outage probability, we formulate a secrecy-rate- maximization problem, which is difficult to solve. By using an upper bound, we transform the original problem into a new one, the solution to which is also feasible for the original problem. We then obtain the optimal power allocation between the source and the relay and find the relay's best location to maximize the secrecy rate. It is noted that the derived optimal power allocation is independent of the instantaneous channel state information (CSI), which avoids the frequent change of transmit power and lowers the system complexity. Finally, numerical results are presented to validate our analyses.
Relay transmission can expand the coverage area and improve the communication reliability. However, it may face higher eavesdropping risk due to the additional relay-destination retransmission, which provides eavesdroppers with a second chance to intercept the confidential message. To guarantee the communication secrecy, specially designed transmission strategies are needed. In this paper, we concentrate on the secrecy assurance of a relay network, which is surrounded by colluding eavesdroppers with unknown locations. Specifically, we aim to maximize the secrecy rate by jointly optimizing the power allocation and relay placement. First, we derive the exact expression of the secrecy outage probability. After imposing a constraint on the outage probability, we formulate a secrecy-rate- maximization problem, which is difficult to solve. By using an upper bound, we transform the original problem into a new one, the solution to which is also feasible for the original problem. We then obtain the optimal power allocation between the source and the relay and find the relay's best location to maximize the secrecy rate. It is noted that the derived optimal power allocation is independent of the instantaneous channel state information (CSI), which avoids the frequent change of transmit power and lowers the system complexity. Finally, numerical results are presented to validate our analyses.
In resource allocation for secure cooperative communication systems, along with power allocation, relay placement also has equal importance in improving the system performance. In this paper, we study the joint optimization of relay placement and power allocation to minimize the secrecy outage probability (SOP) for a four-node cooperative system with a trusted randomize-and-forward relay in the presence of an external eavesdropper. Initially, we derive the expression of SOP, and then formulate an optimization problem to minimize SOP under given power budget and relay placement (RP) constraints. By providing analytical insights on power allocation (PA) between source and relay, we obtain closed form expressions of optimal PA (OPA) for a given RP that minimizes the SOP. Next, we propose a low complexity algorithm to obtain the near-optimal RP (ORP) for a given PA. Finally, we obtain optimal SOP with joint RP and PA. Numerical results present validation of analytical SOP through Monte Carlo simulations, optimal PA for a given RP, optimal RP for a given PA, and joint PA and RP for a given secrecy threshold rate. Finally, we highlight the significant performance gains achieved by the joint design over the conventional scheme.
The Internet of Things (IoT) depicts a bright future, where any devices having sensorial and computing capabilities can interact with each other. Among all existing technologies, the techniques for the fifth generation (5G) systems are the main driving force for the actualization of IoT concept. However, due to the heterogeneous environment in 5G networks and the broadcast nature of radio propagation, the security assurance against eavesdropping is a vital yet challenging task. In this paper, we focus on the transmission design for secure relay communications in IoT networks, where the communication is exposed to eavesdroppers with unknown number and locations. The randomize-and-forward relay strategy specially designed for secure multi-hop communications is employed in our transmission protocol. First, we consider a single-antenna scenario, where all the devices in the network are equipped with the single antenna. We derive the expression for the secrecy outage probability of the two-hop transmission. Following this, a secrecy-rate-maximization problem subject to a secrecy-outage-probability constraint is formulated. The optimal power allocation and codeword rate design are obtained. Furthermore, we generalize the above analyses to a more generic scenario, where the relay and eavesdroppers are equipped with multiple antennas. Numerical results show that the proper use of relay transmission can enhance the secrecy throughput and extend the secure coverage range.
In this paper, we address the problem of joint power and time allocation for secure communications in a decode-and-forward massive multiple-input multiple-output (M-MIMO) relaying system in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. We apply the M-MIMO relaying technique to enhance the secrecy performance under very practical and adverse conditions, i.e., no availability of instantaneous eavesdropper channel state information (CSI) and only imperfect instantaneous legitimate CSI. We first provide a performance analysis of secrecy outage capacity, which reveals the minimum required number of relay antennas for achieving a positive secrecy outage capacity. Then, we propose an optimization framework to jointly optimize source transmit power, relay transmit power, and transmission time in each hop, with the goal of maximizing the secrecy outage capacity. Although the secrecy outage capacity is not a concave function with respect to the optimization variables, we show that it can be maximized by first maximizing over some of the variables, and then maximizing over the rest. To this end, we first derive a closed-form solution of optimal relay transmit power, afterward obtain that of optimal source transmit power, and then derive the optimal ratio of the first-hop duration to a complete transmission time. Moreover, several important system design insights are provided through asymptotic performance analysis. Finally, simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed joint resource allocation scheme.
This paper studies the secrecy rate maximization problem of a secure wireless communication system in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers. The security of the communication link is enhanced through cooperative jamming with the help of multiple jammers. First, a feasibility condition is derived to achieve a positive secrecy rate at the destination. Then, we solve the original secrecy rate maximization problem, which is not convex in terms of power allocation at the jammers. To circumvent this nonconvexity, the achievable secrecy rate is approximated for a given power allocation at the jammers, and the approximated problem is formulated into a geometric programming one. Based on this approximation, an iterative algorithm has been developed to obtain the optimal power allocation at the jammers. Next, we provide a bisection approach, based on 1-D search, to validate the optimality of the proposed algorithm. In addition, by assuming Rayleigh fading, the secrecy outage probability (SOP) of the proposed cooperative jamming scheme is analyzed. More specifically, a single-integral form expression for the SOP is derived for the most general case, as well as a closed-form expression for the special case of two cooperative jammers and one eavesdropper. Simulation results have been provided to validate the convergence and the optimality of the proposed algorithm, as well as the theoretical derivations of the presented SOP analysis.
In this article, a new relay-aided secure communication system is investigated, where a transmitter sends signals to a destination via an amplify-and-forward (AF) relay in the presence of an eavesdropper. We consider a general system configuration, where the source, relay, destination, and eavesdropper are all equipped with multiple antennas. In the practical scenarios of unknown eavesdropper's channel state information (CSI) and uncertainty of the eavesdropper's location, we aim to maximize the expected value of the system secrecy rate over the presumed distribution of the eavesdropper's channels, by exploiting the artificial noise (AN) transmitted by the source and relay nodes. The system design issue is formulated as a nonconvex stochastic optimization problem with a source transmission power constraint and a nonconvex relay transmission power constraint. A novel computational method is proposed to solve this challenging problem. The new method is developed based on an exact penalty function method together with a parallel stochastic decomposition algorithm. Numerical simulations are performed to study the effectiveness of the proposed scheme at various locations of the eavesdropper. Simulation results show that for most cases, secure communication can be achieved without the CSI knowledge of eavesdropper's channels, and the achievable secrecy rate follows the trend of a benchmark system where the eavesdropper's full CSI is available. In particular, the achievable system secrecy rate increases with the number of antennas at the legitimate users. Moreover, the optimal power allocated for the transmission of the AN increases with the system signal-to-noise ratio. The proposed computational method achieves a higher system secrecy rate than a conventional penalty function based approach.
In this paper, we investigate secrecy communications in two-hop wireless relaying networks which consist of one source, one amplify-and-forward (AF) relay, one legitimate destination, and one eavesdropper. To prevent the eavesdropper from intercepting the source message, we make the destination send the intended noise to the AF relay during the first phase. This is referred to as cooperative jamming. According to the channel information at the destination, we address two types of jamming power allocation; (i) rate-optimal power allocation and (ii) outage-optimal power allocation. More specifically, without the instantaneous channel knowledge for the eavesdropper side, the outage probability of the secrecy rate is minimized with respect to the intended noise power level. We show that the outage-optimal allocation gives almost the same outage probability as the rateoptimal one. In addition, the jamming power consumption can be significantly reduced compared to the fixed and rate-optimal power allocation methods.