The broadcast nature of wireless networks makes them vulnerable to eavesdropping attacks; therefore, physical layer security (PLS) becomes essential to protect the signal at the physical layer. In this paper, we investigate PLS aspects in terms of the secrecy capacity (SC) in hybrid radio frequency (RF)/visible light communication (VLC) networks. First, we design RF-and VLC-based beamforming vectors to maximize the achievable SC. Moreover, using these vectors, we solve the power minimization problem satisfying the required SC. The results provide useful insights into how the eavesdropper's location affects the power consumption profile. Finally, the results reveal that the performance of the VLC network in terms of the consumed power per bits/s/Hz is more efficient than the RF one.
In this paper, we study physical layer security (PLS) aspects of a hybrid radio frequency (RF)/visible light communication (VLC) system with multiple decode-and-forward relaying nodes equipped with friendly jamming capabilities. We first propose a novel joint relay–jammer selection algorithm to enhance the secrecy performance of the network. Next, we obtain beamforming vectors and the minimal power values, which satisfy the required secrecy threshold. Our simulation results show that the proposed hybrid RF/VLC scheme obtains higher secrecy capacity compared to the standalone VLC and RF technologies. Finally, we proved the proposed technique to be an eavesdropping-resilient PLS solution.
This paper considers a hybrid decode-and-forward radio frequency (RF)/visible light communication (VLC) relaying network with jamming capabilities and investigates the achievable secrecy capacity (SC). First, we obtain beamforming vectors for the RF and VLC models to maximize the achievable SC and then formulate the power minimization algorithm to satisfy the required SC. The results provide useful insights into how the achievable SC is affected by the location of the eavesdropper. Finally, the results reveal that the RF model consumes more power compared to the VLC since the latter is a more efficient technology.
This letter studies the security performance of hybrid radio frequency (RF) and visible light communication (VLC) system. In this hybrid system, the source node (i.e., Alice) transmits information to the relay node via the outdoor RF link. Nakagami-m fading and path loss are considered for the RF link. The relay using the decode-and-forward (DF) relaying scheme. A legitimate receiver (Bob) arranged on the floor receives the optical signal. An eavesdropper (Eve) deployed in VLC link wiretaps the confidential information. In this paper, secrecy outage probability (SOP) is used to assess the performance of the system. We derive the closed expression of the lower bound of SOP when VLC link is wiretapped. Numerical results to validate the accuracy of our derivation.
Integrating visible light communication (VLC) and radio-frequency (RF) networks can improve the performance of communication systems in terms of coverage and data rates. However, adding RF links to VLC networks weakens the secrecy performance due to the broadcast and ubiquitous nature of RF links. This paper studies the physical layer security (PLS) in cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access (CoNOMA) hybrid VLC/RF systems. Consider a VLC system, where two entrusted users close to a VLC access point (AP) help an out-of-coverage legitimate user using RF signals in the presence of an eavesdropper. The AP transmits data to both entrusted users and the legitimate user using the principle of NOMA, where the entrusted users harvest energy from the received light intensity, decode the legitimate user's message, forward it using a RF link, and then decode their messages. It is required to maximize the secrecy rate at the legitimate user under quality-of-service (QoS) constraints using beamforming and DC-bias and power allocation. Different solutions are proposed for both active and passive eavesdropper cases, using semidefinite relaxation, zero-forcing, beamforming, and jamming. Numerical results compare between the different proposed approaches and show how the proposed approaches contribute in improving the secrecy performance of the proposed model.
In this paper, a cooperative hybrid visible light communication (VLC)-radio frequency (RF) system with spatially random terminals is considered. Especially, a source node (
S) with a group of light-emitting diode (LED) lamps transmits information bits to a destination (
D), which is located out of
S’s coverage area, via a relay node (
R).
Ris equipped with a photodetector and an antenna to set up a VLC link between
Sand
R, and a radio frequency (RF) link between
Rand
D, respectively. Meanwhile, an eavesdropper (
E) equipped with a photodetector and an antenna tries to overhear the information delivery over VLC and RF links. Also, diversity receiving scheme is considered at
E, while the same modulation scheme is considered over both VLC and RF links. Furthermore, decode-and-forward scheme is adopted at
Rto process and forward the received VLC signals. By employing stochastic geometry, we first characterize the probability density function and cumulative distribution function of the received signal-to-noise-ratio over both VLC and RF links, while considering the randomness of the locations of both
R,
E, and
D. Then, the secrecy performance of the target system is studied by deriving the approximated expressions for the secrecy outage probability under various cases. Finally, the proposed analytical models are verified via Monte-Carlo simulations.