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IEEE International Conference on Signal and Image Processing (ICSIP)

Exploiting Artificial Randomness for Fast Secret Key Generation in Quasi-static Environments

Lei Hu, You Chen, Guyue Li, Aiqun Hu

Published Oct 22, 2021• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper investigates a secret key generation problem in quasi-static wireless communication environments. To increase the key generation rate, we propose an efficient artificial randomness (AR) aided key generation approach in time division duplexing (TDD) multiple-input single-output multiple-eavesdropper (MISOME) communication systems, adopting two transmitter precoding techniques including zero-forcing (ZF) and maximum ratio transmission (MRT). We prove that the proposed approach outperforms existing key generation approaches without AR in terms of increasing achievable key rate. Furthermore, the improved key rate is derived to be bounded by the entropy of legitimate users' and eavesdroppers' channels in MRT precoded systems, while the improved key rate increases linearly with the number of channel probing rounds in ZF precoding systems. Our proposed AR-aided approach needs no extra nodes to assist in key generation and can resist eavesdroppers with multiple antennas. Numerical results show that with the increase of AR variation range, ZF obtains a higher key generation rate while the key rate of MRT tends to a lower fixed value.

DOI
10.1109/icsip52628.2021.9688810

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Wireless key generation in slow fading channels is challenging because of the limited channel variation and randomness. This paper proposes a novel artificial randomness (AR) assisted approach for fast key generation in slow fading environments. It integrates user-designed randomness into the channel probing to form a fast-changing combined channel to realize information-theory security. The analytical expressions of secret key capacity are derived. We find that it is possible to improve secret key capacity by introducing AR when legitimate users have a better channel condition than that of eavesdropper. We also find that the improved secret key capacity is proportional to the channel probing number and is bounded by the noise variance and channel condition. Simulation and experimental results show that AR approach can generate secret key effectively in slow fading environments by carefully designing probing numbers. Compared to existing work in literature, the proposed approach does not rely on multiple antennas or extra helpers, and it can be applied in both single antenna and multi-antenna systems.
This paper presents a random pilot full-duplex (FD) secret key generation scheme designed to enhance security in static wireless environments. In these environments, where inherent channel randomness is limited, efficiently extracting secret keys poses a significant challenge. The proposed scheme leverages the benefits of both FD operation and random pilot transmission to overcome this limitation and enhance the physical layer security. In this scheme, one of the FD nodes transmits random pilot signals, unknown to the eavesdropper, during the channel probing phase to artificially increase the shared randomness between the legitimate communicating nodes. By considering correlated eavesdropping, we derive the lower and upper bounds for the achievable secret key rate (SKR). The results reveal that the proposed FD scheme outperforms the HD scheme even in the presence of residual SI. Furthermore, the secret key rate can be improved by better SIC channel estimation and lower eavesdropper channel correlation.
Most secret key generation (SKG) methods need channel estimation and provide insufficient performance especially in time division duplex single input single output (TDD-SISO) system and quasi-static channel scenario. This paper proposed a two-way SKG method which can completely avoid channel estimation and achieve higher SKG rate (SKGR). Firstly, the legitimate users mutually send their own random signal via the reciprocal channel. Then, the multiplication of local random signal and the received signal can be used as common randomness to generate keys. The theoretical and practical SKGRs of the three methods, namely wireless channel based, one-way randomness and two-way randomness, are derived and compared. Simulation and estimation results show that the proposed TW method acquires a better performance not only in theory but also in practice, and the practical SKGR of TW method is time-linear which provides a feasible scheme to significantly improve the SKGR for quasi-static channel scenario.
Recently, shared secret key generation from wireless channel characteristics has attracted a lot of attention due to its low computational overhead. However, in a static environment, the secret key rate is relatively lower due to the lack of channel time-variation. In this paper, we propose a lightweight and efficient PLKG scheme for static channels. Different from current schemes, in the proposed scheme, the transmitter attaches the information of the secret key into the downlink pilot signals to the legitimate receiver by the proposed secret precoding. At the receiving end, the legitimate receiver can directly observe the correct information of secret key from the public downlink pilot signals, while keeping perfect secrecy of the generated key against eavesdroppers. The key principle lies in that the information of the secret key is coded in the index of the non-activated MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output) sub-channel. Consequently, only the legitimate receiver can accurately observe the value of the key information. For any other eavesdroppers who suffer an independent channel from the legitimate transmitter and receiver, it is proven that she cannot observe any key information from her received signals. Therefore, the key rate can be improved for the static channels by increasing the symbol rate of the pilot signals. Simulations are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
This paper investigates an artificial randomness-based key generation scheme in near-field extremely large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (XL-MIMO) communications, aiming to overcome the limitations of static wireless chan-nels in generating secret keys. The proposed approach introduces artificial randomness via the pre coding vector, enabling legitimate users to generate secret keys while preventing eavesdropping. To maximize the secret key rate (SKR), the singular value decomposition (SVD) method is utilized to identify the legitimate subspace for generating secret keys and its orthogonal subspace to thwart eavesdropping. Additionally, a Dinkelbach method-based power allocation algorithm is designed to inject noise into both the legitimate subspace and its orthogonal subspace. Our simulation results validate the efficiency of the proposed key generation scheme, demonstrating its superiority over existing approaches.
Physical layer key generation in multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) system is challenging due to the poor randomness of the equivalent channel response. The precoding matrix combines the channels from different antennas in a constructive way, resulting in a flat fading equivalent channel. In this paper, we proposes new physical layer key generation schemes based on precoding adjustment. Two strategies are proposed to enhance the randomness of the equivalent channel response at the cost of beamforming gain, which consist in adjusting random elements and adjusting the largest elements. When considering the transmission of artificial noise (AN) at the base station, random phase adjustment strategy is proposed to the precoding scheme which does not affect the beamforming gain. The signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio of user and key generation performance are simulated. Simulation results show that adjusting the precoding elements with larger amplitudes is more efficient to increase the information entropy of the channel response. When the system is able to transmit an AN with high power ratio, random phase adjustment can help to generate secret keys with higher information entropy compared to two other strategies.