Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly spreading and reaching a multitude of different domains, since the fifth generation (5G) wireless technologies are the key enablers of many IoT applications. It is hence apparent that the broadcast nature of IoT devices makes data security unprecedentedly critical. Compared with traditional cryptography algorithms, which cannot cater for the features of IoT devices characterized by the severe limits in terms of energy, computation and storage capabilities, physical layer security (PLS) has been regarded as a promising solution to facilitate secure communications by exploiting the intrinsic randomness of the wireless medium. However, most of previous works assumed that all devices are static, and the impact of mobility on PLS deserves further investigation. In this paper, applying two types of random mobile models, i.e., the models of Random WayPoint (RWP) and Random Direction (RD), we study the impact of mobility on PLS in a scenario with three types of wireless devices (i.e., a destination, multiple interferers and an eavesdropper). Specifically, we establish an analytical framework for secrecy transmission capacity (STC), a fundamental metric in the study of PLS, under RWP and RD models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to derive STC and present the condition to achieve a positive STC with the consideration of mobility. We conclude that the RWP mobile destination can achieve a higher STC than that achievable in RD mobile and static scenarios, while RWP mobile eavesdropper is a challenging scenario to obtain a positive STC. Therefore, we propose an effective secrecy improvement strategy for the latter. Simulation validates the theoretical analyses.
Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly spreading and reaching a multitude of different domains, since the fifth generation (5G) wireless technologies are the key enablers of many IoT applications. It is hence apparent that the broadcast nature of IoT devices makes data security unprecedentedly critical. Compared with traditional cryptography algorithms, which cannot cater for the features of IoT devices characterized by the severe limits in terms of energy, computation and storage capabilities, physical layer security (PLS) has been regarded as a promising solution to facilitate secure communications by exploiting the intrinsic randomness of the wireless medium. However, most of previous works assumed that all devices are static, and the impact of mobility on PLS deserves further investigation. In this paper, applying two types of random mobile models, i.e., the models of Random WayPoint (RWP) and Random Direction (RD), we study the impact of mobility on PLS in a scenario with three types of wireless devices (i.e., a destination, multiple interferers and an eavesdropper). Specifically, we establish an analytical framework for secrecy transmission capacity (STC), a fundamental metric in the study of PLS, under RWP and RD models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to derive STC and present the condition to achieve a positive STC with the consideration of mobility. We conclude that the RWP mobile destination can achieve a higher STC than that achievable in RD mobile and static scenarios, while RWP mobile eavesdropper is a challenging scenario to obtain a positive STC. Therefore, we propose an effective secrecy improvement strategy for the latter. Simulation validates the theoretical analyses.
Due to the openness nature of wireless medium, security issues have increasingly become a bottleneck that restricts the development of ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (uRLLCs). Physical layer security (PLS) technique has been proposed to fulfill the security and confidentiality of information transmission by exploiting the characteristics of the wireless channel, which caters to the features of uRLLC. Furthermore, PLS also shows great practicality in artificial intelligence field, especially in wireless intelligent networks. However, the previous works on the study of PLS ignored the significance of mobility and limited packet length constraint required by uRLLC for satisfying low latency, in this paper, we investigate the impact of mobility on the secrecy performance of uRLLC by using the Random WayPoint (RWP) model and the Random Direction (RD) model. Specifically, with the tools of stochastic geometry, to observe the impact of key system parameters on the secrecy performance, we establish the closed-form expression of connection outage probability, secrecy outage probability, and decoding error probability-based secrecy transmission capacity (DEP-STC). Furthermore, we derive the condition that achieves a positive DEP-STC under two moving models, which can offer the network designer some greatly significant insights into achieving perfect secrecy. Simulations validate our derived theoretical results, and indicate that RWP moving receiver can obtain a higher security level than RD moving one, while RWP eavesdropper can lead to a lower security.
Wireless physical layer security has attracted great attention in recent years. Although mobility is an intrinsic property of wireless networks, most of the existing works only consider static scenarios and the impact of mobility on wireless physical layer security is not well understood. To fill this gap, in this paper, we investigate physical layer security in the scenario with a random mobile receiver under Rayleigh fading channel. We consider a common scenario where a base station or access point communicates to a random mobile receiver with a passive eavesdropper in a circular region. The secrecy performances under three typical random mobility models are studied: random waypoint model (RWP); random direction model (RD); and border move model. We investigate the secrecy characteristics of the mobile user under steady-state running and provide a general analytical framework for computing the ergodic secrecy capacity. We derive tractable closed-form expressions of positive secrecy capacity probability and secrecy outage probability for RWP and RD mobility users, respectively. By comparing the secrecy performance of mobility with static case, we find that the RWP mobile user can achieve much better secrecy performance than the others. We then investigate the secrecy performance of RWP mobile user with pause time. Furthermore, the two types of secrecy improvement strategies for random mobile users are proposed. In the first strategy, a transmit subcell for RWP users is bounded. We allow the transmitter to communicate with the mobile user only when he is moving within the subcell. In the other strategy, the transmitter is turned on only when the evaluated secrecy performance reaches to a required level. We strike a good trade-off between the secrecy improvements and transmit outage probability. Extensive simulation results validate our theoretical analysis. Finally, we extend our framework to other realistic scenarios, including nodes moving in other shapes of areas, and multiple non-cooperative and cooperative eavesdroppers.
Owing to flexible management and low overhead, wireless physical layer security (PLS) has been applied to support many critical applications (e.g., data dissemination) of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)-based mobile communication networks in emergency scenarios. Although the impact of static network scenarios or receiver mobility on PLS has been well studied, there is no much work that studies the impact of UAV-based transmitter mobility on PLS. To fill this gap, in this paper, we investigate PLS of a scenario, where a random mobile UAV-based transmitter transmits information to a static ground entity under Rayleigh fading channel. More specifically, we consider a communication system, in which a mobile UAV hovers over a region to collect information and then disseminates this information to a static ground network entity in a confidential manner under the presence of an eavesdropper. Because of popularity and practicality, the UAV is assumed to hover following the random way point (RWP) mobility model. We investigate the secrecy characteristics of the UAV under steady running state in terms of ergodic secrecy capacity (ESC), positive secrecy capacity probability (PSCP) and secrecy outage probability (SOP) for the communication between the UAV and the receiver. We then investigate the secrecy performance of the proposed system while considering the pause time of the RWP mobility model adopted by the UAV. We further extend our proposed theoretical model to other realistic scenarios, including the presence of multiple cooperative and non-cooperative eavesdroppers, and study the PSCP and SOP metrics of the corresponding system. Furthermore, we propose three types of secrecy improvement strategies for the considered communication model. We strike a good trade-off between the secrecy improvement and transmit outage probability. Extensive simulations have been conducted to validate our theoretical analysis as well as the effectiveness of the proposed secrecy improvement strategies.
The increasing demands for Internet of things (IoT) applications and the tremendous increase in the volume of IoT generated data bring novel challenges for the fifth generation (5G) network. Verticals such as e-Health, vehicle to everything (V2X) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) require solutions that can guarantee low latency, energy efficiency,massive connectivity, and high reliability. In particular, finding strong security mechanisms that satisfy the above is of central importance for bringing the IoT to life. \nIn this regards, employing physical layer security (PLS) methods could be greatly beneficial for IoT networks. While current security solutions rely on computational complexity, PLS is based on information theoretic proofs. By removing the need for computational power, PLS is ideally suited for resource constrained devices. In detail, PLS can ensure security using the inherit randomness already present in the physical channel. Promising schemes from the physical layer include physical unclonable functions (PUFs), which are seen as the hardware fingerprint of a device, and secret key generation (SKG) from wireless fading coefficients, which provide the wireless fingerprint of the communication channel between devices. \nThe present thesis develops several PLS-based techniques that pave the way for a new breed of latency-aware, lightweight, security protocols. In particular, the work proposes: i) a fast multi-factor authentication solution with verified security properties based on PUFs, proximity detection and SKG; ii) an authenticated encryption SKG approach that interweaves data transmission and key generation; and, iii) a set of countermeasures to man-in-the-middle and jamming attacks. Overall, PLS solutions show promising performance, especially in the context of IoT applications, therefore, the advances in this thesis should be considered for beyond-5G networks.
Physical layer security of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems has attracted great attentions. However, the impact of mobility on physical layer security of NOMA systems has not been well studied. In this paper, to fill this gap, we investigate the impact of random mobility on physical layer security of NOMA systems. Considering scenarios where a base station (BS) or access point (AP) communicates to two random mobile users with a passive eavesdropper in two concentric circles, we study the secrecy performance with combinations of two typical random mobility models: random waypoint (RWP) and random direction (RD). A general analytical framework to numerically calculate the average secrecy rates of NOMA mobile users under steady state is provided. By comparing secrecy performance of mobile users with static users, we find that RWP mobile users can achieve higher average secrecy rates than the users with other mobility combinations. Meanwhile, two types of secrecy fairness for mobile users are fully considered and we propose a novel sum average secrecy rate maximization problem, subject to average power limits and users' QoS (quality of service) requirements. Considering eavesdropper's channel state information (CSI) is unknown to BS, we propose a threshold power allocation strategy to improve the sum average secrecy rate of NOMA mobile users. Extensive numerical simulations are conducted to validate our model and theoretical analysis.
The pervasiveness of commercial Internet of Things (IoT) around the globe is expected to reach significant levels with the upcoming sixth generation of mobile networks (6G). Throughout the past years, wireless standardization units worldwide have been prominently active in the deployment and performance optimization of such IoT networks and fusing them with current and futuristic cellular networks. Nonetheless, the openness of wireless transmissions and the forecasted overwhelm in connected devices will provoke unprecedented security leakages and vulnerabilities. In addition to the key targets of the 6G and IoT, it has been of paramount importance to cater to decent and lightweight security mechanisms in ultra-massively connected heterogeneous networks. Recently, significant efforts have been made to pave the way for the integration of physical layer security (PLS) in contemporary and futuristic networks. The primary motivation behind its deployment resides in its low complexity and ability to provide information-theoretic secure transmissions, which alleviates the complexity burden caused by implementing complex cryptographic schemes. This survey overviews the recent advancement in PLS techniques with a particular interest in its application to the Internet of Things (IoT). We review essentially recent PLS techniques aiming at ensuring message confidentiality along with node/message authentication and malicious nodes’ detection, where their corresponding application scenarios and underlying pros and cons are discussed. On top of that, we explore recent findings in the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies at the physical layer, such as non-orthogonal multiple-access, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, joint communication and sensing, and optical wireless/Terahertz communications in boosting confidentiality and authentication at the physical layer. Lastly, promising extensions and future directions are discussed based on the quantified pros and cons of each PLS category, opening up ways for timely research directions within the topic and current/future challenges faced by PLS.