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Increasing physical layer security through scrambled codes and ARQ

Marco Baldi, Marco Bianchi, Franco Chiaraluce

Published Jan 1, 2011• 20 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We develop the proposal of non-systematic channel codes on the AWGN wire-tap channel. Such coding technique, based on scrambling, achieves high transmission security with a small degradation of the eavesdropper's channel with respect to the legitimate receiver's channel. In this paper, we show that, by implementing scrambling and descrambling on blocks of concatenated frames, rather than on single frames, the channel degradation needed is further reduced. The usage of concatenated scrambling allows to achieve security also when both receivers experience the same channel quality. However, in this case, the introduction of an ARQ protocol with authentication is needed.

Related papers

Increasing Physical Layer Security through Scrambled Codes and ARQ

Marco Baldi, Marco Bianchi, Franco Chiaraluce

We elaborate on the proposal of non-systematic channel codes on the AWGN wire-tap channel. Such coding technique, based on scrambling, achieves secure transmission with a small security gap between the authorized receiver (Bob) and the unauthorized one (Eve). In this paper, we show that, by implementing scrambling and descrambling on blocks of concatenated frames, rather than on single frames, the security gap between Bob and Eve can be further reduced. The usage of concatenated scrambling also allows to achieve security when Bob and Eve experience the same channel quality. In this case, the introduction of an ARQ protocol with authentication is needed.

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Coding With Scrambling, Concatenation, and HARQ for the AWGN Wire-Tap Channel: A Security Gap Analysis

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This paper examines the use of nonsystematic channel codes to obtain secure transmissions over the additive white Gaussian noise wire-tap channel. Unlike the previous approaches, we propose to implement nonsystematic coded transmission by scrambling the information bits, and characterize the bit error rate of scrambled transmissions through theoretical arguments and numerical simulations. We have focused on some examples of Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem and low-density parity-check codes to estimate the security gap, which we have used as a measure of physical layer security, in addition to the bit error rate. Based on a number of numerical examples, we found that such a transmission technique can outperform alternative solutions. In fact, when an eavesdropper (Eve) has a worse channel than the authorized user (Bob), the security gap required to reach a given level of security is very small. The amount of degradation of Eve's channel with respect to Bob's that is needed to achieve sufficient security can be further reduced by implementing scrambling and descrambling operations on blocks of frames, rather than on single frames. While Eve's channel has a quality equal to or better than that of Bob's channel, we have shown that the use of a hybrid automatic repeat-request protocol with authentication still allows achieving a sufficient level of security. Finally, the secrecy performance of some practical schemes has also been measured in terms of the equivocation rate about the message at the eavesdropper and compared with that of ideal codes.

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Non-systematic codes for physical layer security

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This paper is a first study on the usage of non-systematic codes based on scrambling matrices for physical layer security. The chance of implementing transmission security at the physical layer is known since many years, but it is now gaining an increasing interest due to its several possible applications. It has been shown that channel coding techniques can be effectively exploited for designing physical layer security schemes, in such a way that an unauthorized receiver, experiencing a channel different from that of the authorized receiver, is not able to gather any information. Recently, it has been proposed to exploit puncturing techniques in order to reduce the security gap between the authorized and unauthorized channels. In this paper, we show that the security gap can be further reduced by using non-systematic codes, able to scramble information bits within the transmitted codeword.

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Artificial Error-Based Code Scrambling Scheme for Secure Communications in Wiretap Channels with Channel Reciprocity

Sangjoon Park

In this letter, an artificial message error-based code scrambling scheme is proposed for secure communications in wiretap channels with channel reciprocity. In the proposed scheme, the artificial message bit errors agreed between the legitimate transmitter and receiver are added to the scrambled message bits at the transmitter prior to the channel encoding procedure, through which the artificial errors are generated by using the reciprocal channel between the legitimate transmitter and receiver. Because of the inaccessibility to the channel state information between the legitimate transmitter and receiver, an eavesdropper would fail to compensate for the artificial errors perfectly. Thus, in addition to decoding errors, the residual artificial errors will also be spread over the descrambled message of the eavesdropper by the error spreading effect of code scrambling. Therefore, unlike the conventional code scrambling scheme, the proposed scheme can provide strong message confidentiality for non-degraded eavesdropping channels, e.g., when the eavesdropper experiences no decoding errors. Furthermore, given that the artificial errors are introduced before the channel encoding procedure, the spread residual errors in the descrambled message remain undetected after the decoding procedures of the eavesdropper. Simulation results confirm that the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional scheme and provides strong message confidentiality in wiretap channels.

IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics Communications and Computer Sciences•Jun 15, 2021•0 citations

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Hongliang He, Pinyi Ren, Xiao Tang

The broadcast nature of wireless communications makes transmission susceptible to eavesdropping. Recently, physical-layer security has been extensively studied to secure the wireless transmissions, but the security is severely compromised when the eavesdropper has the superiority in the channel quality. Toward this issue, we in this paper propose a joint ARQ and network coding method exploiting the characteristics of both the physical layer and the link layer. Specifically, we relate the message to be transmitted in the current slot with the successfully decoded messages in previous slots, where the ARQ is employed at the legitimate side to guarantee the successful transmission and decoding. Once one or more received messages fail to be decoded at the eavesdropper, it further prevents the eavesdropper from decoding the transmissions in later slots and thus the message transmitted currently and later is secured at the legitimate side. Moreover, for the more disadvantageous case that the eavesdropper is geographically closer to the transmitter, we further propose a destination-aided network coding scheme, which secures private information no matter where the eavesdropper is. The closed-form expressions of intercept probability and loss probability of the private information are analytically presented. The simulation results are provided to confirm our theoretical findings.

IEEE Transactions on Communications•Jan 11, 2019•7 citations

Adaptive Physical-Layer Security Through Punctured Coding for Secrecy

Miguel Carreira, Thyago de Amorim Monteiro, Marco A. C. Gomes +2 more

We propose a coding methodology for physical layer security with adaptive characteristics, whereby adaptive we mean that the system must be tunable to different operational points/signal-to-noise ratio levels of both the legitimate receiver and the eavesdropper. Based on interleaving and scrambling as techniques that shuffle the original message before transmission, we consider puncturing over an interleaving/scrambling key and/or over the message as a mechanism to provide the required adaptability to channel conditions. The proposed techniques have shown suitable adaptability to different channel quality levels of the legitimate receiver and eavesdropper, while still guaranteeing the desired reliability for the legitimate receiver and secrecy against the eavesdropper.

International Conference on Communications•May 1, 2019•1 citation
We develop the proposal of non-systematic channel codes on the AWGN wire-tap channel. Such coding technique, based on scrambling, achieves high transmission security with a small degradation of the eavesdropper's channel with respect to the legitimate receiver's channel. In this paper, we show that, by implementing scrambling and descrambling on blocks of concatenated frames, rather than on single frames, the channel degradation needed is further reduced. The usage of concatenated scrambling allows to achieve security also when both receivers experience the same channel quality. However, in this case, the introduction of an ARQ protocol with authentication is needed.
We elaborate on the proposal of non-systematic channel codes on the AWGN wire-tap channel. Such coding technique, based on scrambling, achieves secure transmission with a small security gap between the authorized receiver (Bob) and the unauthorized one (Eve). In this paper, we show that, by implementing scrambling and descrambling on blocks of concatenated frames, rather than on single frames, the security gap between Bob and Eve can be further reduced. The usage of concatenated scrambling also allows to achieve security when Bob and Eve experience the same channel quality. In this case, the introduction of an ARQ protocol with authentication is needed.
This paper examines the use of nonsystematic channel codes to obtain secure transmissions over the additive white Gaussian noise wire-tap channel. Unlike the previous approaches, we propose to implement nonsystematic coded transmission by scrambling the information bits, and characterize the bit error rate of scrambled transmissions through theoretical arguments and numerical simulations. We have focused on some examples of Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem and low-density parity-check codes to estimate the security gap, which we have used as a measure of physical layer security, in addition to the bit error rate. Based on a number of numerical examples, we found that such a transmission technique can outperform alternative solutions. In fact, when an eavesdropper (Eve) has a worse channel than the authorized user (Bob), the security gap required to reach a given level of security is very small. The amount of degradation of Eve's channel with respect to Bob's that is needed to achieve sufficient security can be further reduced by implementing scrambling and descrambling operations on blocks of frames, rather than on single frames. While Eve's channel has a quality equal to or better than that of Bob's channel, we have shown that the use of a hybrid automatic repeat-request protocol with authentication still allows achieving a sufficient level of security. Finally, the secrecy performance of some practical schemes has also been measured in terms of the equivocation rate about the message at the eavesdropper and compared with that of ideal codes.
This paper is a first study on the usage of non-systematic codes based on scrambling matrices for physical layer security. The chance of implementing transmission security at the physical layer is known since many years, but it is now gaining an increasing interest due to its several possible applications. It has been shown that channel coding techniques can be effectively exploited for designing physical layer security schemes, in such a way that an unauthorized receiver, experiencing a channel different from that of the authorized receiver, is not able to gather any information. Recently, it has been proposed to exploit puncturing techniques in order to reduce the security gap between the authorized and unauthorized channels. In this paper, we show that the security gap can be further reduced by using non-systematic codes, able to scramble information bits within the transmitted codeword.
In this letter, an artificial message error-based code scrambling scheme is proposed for secure communications in wiretap channels with channel reciprocity. In the proposed scheme, the artificial message bit errors agreed between the legitimate transmitter and receiver are added to the scrambled message bits at the transmitter prior to the channel encoding procedure, through which the artificial errors are generated by using the reciprocal channel between the legitimate transmitter and receiver. Because of the inaccessibility to the channel state information between the legitimate transmitter and receiver, an eavesdropper would fail to compensate for the artificial errors perfectly. Thus, in addition to decoding errors, the residual artificial errors will also be spread over the descrambled message of the eavesdropper by the error spreading effect of code scrambling. Therefore, unlike the conventional code scrambling scheme, the proposed scheme can provide strong message confidentiality for non-degraded eavesdropping channels, e.g., when the eavesdropper experiences no decoding errors. Furthermore, given that the artificial errors are introduced before the channel encoding procedure, the spread residual errors in the descrambled message remain undetected after the decoding procedures of the eavesdropper. Simulation results confirm that the proposed scheme outperforms the conventional scheme and provides strong message confidentiality in wiretap channels.
The broadcast nature of wireless communications makes transmission susceptible to eavesdropping. Recently, physical-layer security has been extensively studied to secure the wireless transmissions, but the security is severely compromised when the eavesdropper has the superiority in the channel quality. Toward this issue, we in this paper propose a joint ARQ and network coding method exploiting the characteristics of both the physical layer and the link layer. Specifically, we relate the message to be transmitted in the current slot with the successfully decoded messages in previous slots, where the ARQ is employed at the legitimate side to guarantee the successful transmission and decoding. Once one or more received messages fail to be decoded at the eavesdropper, it further prevents the eavesdropper from decoding the transmissions in later slots and thus the message transmitted currently and later is secured at the legitimate side. Moreover, for the more disadvantageous case that the eavesdropper is geographically closer to the transmitter, we further propose a destination-aided network coding scheme, which secures private information no matter where the eavesdropper is. The closed-form expressions of intercept probability and loss probability of the private information are analytically presented. The simulation results are provided to confirm our theoretical findings.
We propose a coding methodology for physical layer security with adaptive characteristics, whereby adaptive we mean that the system must be tunable to different operational points/signal-to-noise ratio levels of both the legitimate receiver and the eavesdropper. Based on interleaving and scrambling as techniques that shuffle the original message before transmission, we consider puncturing over an interleaving/scrambling key and/or over the message as a mechanism to provide the required adaptability to channel conditions. The proposed techniques have shown suitable adaptability to different channel quality levels of the legitimate receiver and eavesdropper, while still guaranteeing the desired reliability for the legitimate receiver and secrecy against the eavesdropper.