Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

CRC Press eBooks

Key Generation from Wireless Channels

Xiangyun Zhou, Lingyang Song, Yan Zhang

Published Nov 7, 2013• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This chapter introduces basic ideas of information-theoretic models for generating secret keys via public discussion, and reviews recent research on applying these ideas to wireless networks. In these applications, wireless channels between transceivers are exploited as random sources for key generation, and the keys generated in such a way can be shown to be provably secure with information-theoretic guarantees. Classic information-theoretic key generation models are first introduced and applications of these fundamental results to key generation over wireless channels are then discussed. Some new directions that generalize and improve the basic scenarios for key generation are described. These new directions include a joint source-channel approach for key generation, a relay-assisted key generation approach, and key generation under active attacks.

DOI
10.1201/b15496-8

Related papers

Secret Key Generation under Active Attacks

Wenwen Tu, Lifeng Lai

Physical layer security, also called information theoretic security, is an emerging field which exploits physical layer properties of communication channels to secure future generations of communication systems. The approach to generating the secret key at the physical layer is proposed in the source model by the pioneer works. Different from the key generation process in the source model, the legitimate users typically observe no sources in advance, but they can obtain the sources via estimating the channel gain. This chapter discusses the problem of key generation under active attacks. It first reviews the basic scenarios for key generation in the presence of a passive adversary. Then, it considers the scenario where the attacker attacks the public discussion, reviews the relationship between the key rate obtained from the case with an active attacker with the corresponding key rate obtained from the passive case and discusses the condition which decides this relationship.

Chapman & Hall/CRC eBooks•Sep 1, 2017•0 citations

Secret key generation exploiting channel characteristics in wireless communications

Kui Ren, Hai Su, Qian Wang

Due to the broadcast nature of wireless channels, wireless communication is vulnerable to eavesdropping, message modification, and node impersonation. Securing the wireless communication requires the shared secret keys between the communicating entities. Traditional security schemes rely on public key infrastructures and cryptographic algorithms to manage secret keys. Recently, many physical-layer-based methods have been proposed as alternative solutions for key generation in wireless networks. These methods exploit the inherent randomness of the wireless fading channel to generate secret keys while providing information-theoretical security without intensive cryptographic computations. This article provides an overview of the existing PHY-based key generation schemes exploiting the randomness of the wireless channels. Specifically, we first introduce the fundamental and general framework of the PHY-based key generation schemes and then categorize them into two classes: received-signal-strength-based and channel- phase-based protocols. Finally, we present a performance comparison of them in terms of key disagreement probability, key generation rate, key bit randomness, scalability, and implementation issues.

IEEE Wireless Communications•Aug 1, 2011•262 citations

Physical layer key generation in wireless networks: challenges and opportunities

Kai Zeng

Physical layer key generation that exploits reciprocity and randomness of wireless fading channels has attracted considerable research attention in recent years. Although theoretical study has shown its potential to generate information- theoretic secure keys, great challenges remain when transforming the theory into practice. This article provides an overview of the physical layer key generation process and discusses its practical challenges. Different passive and active attacks are analyzed and evaluated through numerical study. A new key generation scheme using random probing signals, and combining user generated randomness and channel randomness, is introduced as a countermeasure against active attacks. The numerical results show that the proposed scheme achieves higher security strength than existing schemes using constant probing signals under active attacks. Future research topics on physical layer key generation are discussed.

IEEE Communications Magazine•Jun 1, 2015•277 citations

Cooperative Key Generation in Wireless Networks

Lifeng Lai, Yingbin Liang, Wenliang Kevin Du

The impact of relay nodes on the secret key generation via the physical layer resources is investigated. A novel relay-assisted strategy is proposed to improve the generated secret key rate. The main idea is to exploit the random channels associated with relay nodes in the network as additional random sources for the key generation. This approach is particularly useful when the channels between legitimate nodes change slowly. Four increasingly sophisticated yet more practical scenarios are studied, for which relay-assisted key generation protocols are proposed and are shown to be optimal or order-optimal in terms of the key rate. It is also shown that the multiplexing gain in the key rate scales linearly with the number of relays, which demonstrates that relay-assisted schemes substantially increase the key rate. This is in sharp contrast to scenarios with relays helping information transmission, in which the multiplexing gain does not scale with the number of relays. Furthermore, a cooperative scheme is also proposed in which relays help key generation but the generated keys are kept secure from these relays.

IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications•Aug 23, 2012•93 citations

A Breakthrough Authentication Protocol for Fortifying IoT-Cloud Security

K. Subha, S. Hari Prasath, Kumar Roshan +1 more

Abstract: Physical layer key generation, leveraging the reciprocity and randomness of wireless fading channels, has garnered significant research interest in recent years. While theoretical studies have demonstrated its potential to generate informationtheoretically secure keys, challenges remain in translating theory into practice. This paper provides an overview of the physical layer key generation process and discusses its practical challenges. Various passive and active attacks are analyzed and evaluated through numerical studies. A new key generation scheme using random probing signals and combining usergenerated randomness with channel randomness is introduced to counteract active attacks. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves higher security strength than existing schemes using constant probing signals under active attacks. Secret-key generation relying on wireless channel reciprocity is an intriguing solution as it can be efficiently implemented at the physical layer of emerging wireless communication networks, while providing information-theoretic security guarantees. In this paper, we investigate and compare the secret-key capacity based on the sampling of the entire complex channel state information (CSI) or only its envelope, the received signal strength (RSS).

International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology•May 4, 2024•0 citations

Physical Layer Security and Its Applications

R. K. Sharma

This chapter provides a survey of physical layer security and key generation methods. This includes mainly an overview of ongoing research in physical layer security in the present and next generation communication networks. Although higher layer security mechanisms and protocols address wireless security challenges in large extent, more security vulnerabilities arise due to the increasingly pervasive existence of wireless communication devices. In this context, the focus of this chapter is mainly on physical layer security. Some security attacks in general are briefly reviewed. Models of physical layer security, information theoretic works, and key generation methods including quantization and reconciliation are discussed. Some latest developments for enhanced security like Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems, reconfigurable antennas, and multiple relay systems are also presented. Finally, some existing and emerging application scenarios of physical layer security are discussed.

Advances in information security, privacy, and ethics book series•Sep 20, 2013•2 citations
This chapter introduces basic ideas of information-theoretic models for generating secret keys via public discussion, and reviews recent research on applying these ideas to wireless networks. In these applications, wireless channels between transceivers are exploited as random sources for key generation, and the keys generated in such a way can be shown to be provably secure with information-theoretic guarantees. Classic information-theoretic key generation models are first introduced and applications of these fundamental results to key generation over wireless channels are then discussed. Some new directions that generalize and improve the basic scenarios for key generation are described. These new directions include a joint source-channel approach for key generation, a relay-assisted key generation approach, and key generation under active attacks.
Physical layer security, also called information theoretic security, is an emerging field which exploits physical layer properties of communication channels to secure future generations of communication systems. The approach to generating the secret key at the physical layer is proposed in the source model by the pioneer works. Different from the key generation process in the source model, the legitimate users typically observe no sources in advance, but they can obtain the sources via estimating the channel gain. This chapter discusses the problem of key generation under active attacks. It first reviews the basic scenarios for key generation in the presence of a passive adversary. Then, it considers the scenario where the attacker attacks the public discussion, reviews the relationship between the key rate obtained from the case with an active attacker with the corresponding key rate obtained from the passive case and discusses the condition which decides this relationship.
Due to the broadcast nature of wireless channels, wireless communication is vulnerable to eavesdropping, message modification, and node impersonation. Securing the wireless communication requires the shared secret keys between the communicating entities. Traditional security schemes rely on public key infrastructures and cryptographic algorithms to manage secret keys. Recently, many physical-layer-based methods have been proposed as alternative solutions for key generation in wireless networks. These methods exploit the inherent randomness of the wireless fading channel to generate secret keys while providing information-theoretical security without intensive cryptographic computations. This article provides an overview of the existing PHY-based key generation schemes exploiting the randomness of the wireless channels. Specifically, we first introduce the fundamental and general framework of the PHY-based key generation schemes and then categorize them into two classes: received-signal-strength-based and channel- phase-based protocols. Finally, we present a performance comparison of them in terms of key disagreement probability, key generation rate, key bit randomness, scalability, and implementation issues.
Physical layer key generation that exploits reciprocity and randomness of wireless fading channels has attracted considerable research attention in recent years. Although theoretical study has shown its potential to generate information- theoretic secure keys, great challenges remain when transforming the theory into practice. This article provides an overview of the physical layer key generation process and discusses its practical challenges. Different passive and active attacks are analyzed and evaluated through numerical study. A new key generation scheme using random probing signals, and combining user generated randomness and channel randomness, is introduced as a countermeasure against active attacks. The numerical results show that the proposed scheme achieves higher security strength than existing schemes using constant probing signals under active attacks. Future research topics on physical layer key generation are discussed.
The impact of relay nodes on the secret key generation via the physical layer resources is investigated. A novel relay-assisted strategy is proposed to improve the generated secret key rate. The main idea is to exploit the random channels associated with relay nodes in the network as additional random sources for the key generation. This approach is particularly useful when the channels between legitimate nodes change slowly. Four increasingly sophisticated yet more practical scenarios are studied, for which relay-assisted key generation protocols are proposed and are shown to be optimal or order-optimal in terms of the key rate. It is also shown that the multiplexing gain in the key rate scales linearly with the number of relays, which demonstrates that relay-assisted schemes substantially increase the key rate. This is in sharp contrast to scenarios with relays helping information transmission, in which the multiplexing gain does not scale with the number of relays. Furthermore, a cooperative scheme is also proposed in which relays help key generation but the generated keys are kept secure from these relays.
Abstract: Physical layer key generation, leveraging the reciprocity and randomness of wireless fading channels, has garnered significant research interest in recent years. While theoretical studies have demonstrated its potential to generate informationtheoretically secure keys, challenges remain in translating theory into practice. This paper provides an overview of the physical layer key generation process and discusses its practical challenges. Various passive and active attacks are analyzed and evaluated through numerical studies. A new key generation scheme using random probing signals and combining usergenerated randomness with channel randomness is introduced to counteract active attacks. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves higher security strength than existing schemes using constant probing signals under active attacks. Secret-key generation relying on wireless channel reciprocity is an intriguing solution as it can be efficiently implemented at the physical layer of emerging wireless communication networks, while providing information-theoretic security guarantees. In this paper, we investigate and compare the secret-key capacity based on the sampling of the entire complex channel state information (CSI) or only its envelope, the received signal strength (RSS).
This chapter provides a survey of physical layer security and key generation methods. This includes mainly an overview of ongoing research in physical layer security in the present and next generation communication networks. Although higher layer security mechanisms and protocols address wireless security challenges in large extent, more security vulnerabilities arise due to the increasingly pervasive existence of wireless communication devices. In this context, the focus of this chapter is mainly on physical layer security. Some security attacks in general are briefly reviewed. Models of physical layer security, information theoretic works, and key generation methods including quantization and reconciliation are discussed. Some latest developments for enhanced security like Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems, reconfigurable antennas, and multiple relay systems are also presented. Finally, some existing and emerging application scenarios of physical layer security are discussed.