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IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security

Secret Group-Key Generation at Physical Layer for Multi-Antenna Mesh Topology

Chan Dai Truyen Thai, Jemin Lee, Jay Prakash, Tony Q. S. Quek

Published May 17, 2018• 56 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a secret group-key generation scheme in physical layer, where an arbitrary number of multi-antenna LNs (LN) exist in mesh topology with a multi-antenna passive eavesdropper. In the first phase of the scheme, pilot signals are transmitted from selected antennas of all nodes and each node estimates channels linked to it. In the second phase, each node sequentially broadcasts a weighted combination of the estimated channel information using selected coefficients. The other LNs can obtain the channel information used for group-key generation while the eavesdropper cannot. Each node then can generate a group key by quantizing and encoding the estimated channels into keys. We apply well-known quantization schemes, such as scalar and vector quantizations, and compare their performance. To further enhance the key-generation performance, we also provide how to determine the antennas at each node used for group-key generation and the coefficients used in the broadcast phase. The simulation results verify the performance of the proposed secret group-key generation scheme using various key-related metrics. We also verify the practical robustness of our scheme by implementing a testbed using universal software radio peripheral. After generating secret common key among three nodes, we also test it using the National Institute of Standards and Technology test suit. The generated key passes the test and it is random enough for communication secrecy.

DOI
10.1109/tifs.2018.2837661

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In this paper, we propose a secret group-key generation scheme in physical layer, where an arbitrary number of multi-antenna LNs (LN) exist in mesh topology with a multi-antenna passive eavesdropper. In the first phase of the scheme, pilot signals are transmitted from selected antennas of all nodes and each node estimates channels linked to it. In the second phase, each node sequentially broadcasts a weighted combination of the estimated channel information using selected coefficients. The other LNs can obtain the channel information used for group-key generation while the eavesdropper cannot. Each node then can generate a group key by quantizing and encoding the estimated channels into keys. We apply well-known quantization schemes, such as scalar and vector quantizations, and compare their performance. To further enhance the key-generation performance, we also provide how to determine the antennas at each node used for group-key generation and the coefficients used in the broadcast phase. The simulation results verify the performance of the proposed secret group-key generation scheme using various key-related metrics. We also verify the practical robustness of our scheme by implementing a testbed using universal software radio peripheral. After generating secret common key among three nodes, we also test it using the National Institute of Standards and Technology test suit. The generated key passes the test and it is random enough for communication secrecy.
Secret group key generation based on physical layer in wireless communications has a lot of practical applications. A few studies focused on the theoretical bounds of the secret key rate based on the sets of received signals rather than a particular secret key generation scheme. We propose a secret group key generation scheme for an arbitrary number of legitimate nodes, n, in mesh topology in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. In the scheme, after general pilot signal transmissions at all nodes, each node broadcasts a weighted combination of its received signals with optimized coefficients, so that legitimate nodes can obtain the information of channels used for group key generation while the eavesdropper cannot. We also apply different quantization schemes for quantizing and encoding the estimated channels into keys. To provide detailed transmissions and processing steps of group key generation, we also describe the proposed scheme for 4-node mesh topology case. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a higher secret group key rate and a lower key disagreement rate than a benchmark scheme.
Secret group key generation based on physical layer in wireless communications has a lot of practical applications. A few studies focused on the theoretical bounds of the secret key rate based on the sets of received signals rather than a particular secret key generation scheme. We propose a secret group key generation scheme for an arbitrary number of legitimate nodes, n, in mesh topology in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. In the scheme, after general pilot signal transmissions at all nodes, each node broadcasts a weighted combination of its received signals with optimized coefficients, so that legitimate nodes can obtain the information of channels used for group key generation while the eavesdropper cannot. We also apply different quantization schemes for quantizing and encoding the estimated channels into keys. To provide detailed transmissions and processing steps of group key generation, we also describe the proposed scheme for 4-node mesh topology case. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a higher secret group key rate and a lower key disagreement rate than a benchmark scheme.
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are resource-constrained and highly vulnerable to eavesdropping due to their broadcast nature. Traditional symmetric key cryptography provides strong security but imposes excessive computational and energy demands on sensor nodes. Physical layer–based secret key generation (SKG) offers a lightweight alternative by exploiting channel reciprocity and randomness; however, existing methods are mostly limited to two-user scenarios and lack scalability in multi-user settings. This paper introduces two scalable multi-user SKG frameworks: a sequential method and a star topology-based method. In the sequential method, users cooperatively relay random signals to derive a shared key, while the star topology leverages a central node for signal aggregation and redistribution. A comparative analysis reveals trade-offs between the proposed methods. The sequential method is more computationally efficient but sensitive to node failures, while the star topology offers lower delay at the cost of requiring a fully connected central node. Analyses and simulations confirm both methods’ effectiveness in key mismatch probability, key generation rate, and key randomness validated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology test suite.
In this paper, we propose a physical-layer secret key generation scheme for multi-antenna legitimate nodes with the help from multiple untrusted relays with single antenna. The relays' actions conform to the rules but they passively eavesdrop the information. Different from most previous key generation schemes, where a key is generated based on a channel coefficient, in the proposed scheme, we use the linear combination of channel coefficients to generate a key. Simulation results show that the rate leaked to the untrusted relays is low and the secret key rate is therefore high. We also point out that the relay communication can achieve higher secret key rate than the direct communication in several distance ranges.
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.
The secret group key generation based on physical layer security and information theory security has attracted increasing research interest. In this paper, we propose a scheme to establish the secret group key with the cooperation of all the nodes. To ensure the security of the group communication, a protocol is proposed to implement the collaborative secret group key via circle network topology. We subsequently analyze the achievable theoretical upper bound of the secret group key rate for circle topology in the presence of an eavesdropper. The simulation result shows that the protocol doesn't only assign the computation and broadcast to each node, but also obviously increase the group key generation rate than a benchmark scheme. We further analyze the impact of node number and SNR on the achievable secrecy rate.