Physical layer security schemes for wireless communication systems

Tsuyoshi Yoneda, Kazuhiko Fukawa, Yuyuan Chang

Tetra Engdahl, Rafael Bachiller Soler, Nuwan J. G. Kankanamge +1 more

Physical layer security (PLS) leverages physical characteristics of wireless channels to allow secure data transfer in wireless communications. While PLS has received considerable research, its practical implementation is still evolving. To address this gap, this work designs and implements a keyless PLS-based communication scheme using three USRP devices in an over-the-air environment in which a multi-antenna transmitter infuses an artificial Gaussian noise source to the nullspace of an intended receiver in order to obscure the received signal of an eavesdropper. The design is applicable to high-order quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations, which is suitable for high-spectral efficiency wireless communication systems. Our measurement results fully demonstrate the confidentiality achieved by the proposed PLS implementation.

Hong Wen

K. Gunaseelan, R. Dhanusuya, A. R. Abdul Rajak +1 more

Jie Tang, Hong Wen, Kai Zeng +3 more

Due to the broadcast nature of wireless radio propagation channels, 5G wireless networks face serious security threats. Security mechanisms that leverage physical layer characteristics have been considered as potential complements to enhance 5G wireless network security. This article proposes physical layer security enhancements to defend against security attacks from the three most significant aspects: wireless secure communication, physical layer assisted authentication and secret key distribution. By integrating physical layer security with novel techniques and application scenarios in 5G communication, we elaborate several promising strategies, including massive MIMO beamforming with security code communication, self-adaptive mobile and cooperative secure communication with dynamic channel prediction, physical layer assisted authentication, malicious node detection and key generation of massive MIMO millimeter wave system. Research opportunities and future challenges are further discussed.

Weiping Shi, Xinyi Jiang, Jinsong Hu +7 more

The broadcast nature of wireless communication systems makes wireless transmission extremely susceptible to eavesdropping and even malicious interference. Physical layer security technology can effectively protect the private information sent by the transmitter from being listened to by illegal eavesdroppers, thus ensuring the privacy and security of communication between the transmitter and legitimate users. Thus, the main design goal of physical layer security is to increase the performance difference between the link of the legitimate receiver and that of the eavesdropper using well-designed transmission schemes. The development of mobile communication presents new challenges to physical layer security research. This paper provides a survey of the physical layer security research on various promising mobile technologies from secure key generation and keyless techniques, including secure key generation, directional modulation (DM), spatial modulation (SM), covert communication, and intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-aided communication. Finally, the future topics and the unresolved technical challenges are presented in physical layer security for mobile communications.