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

IEEE Future Networks World Forum (FNWF)

Physical Layer Security Based Enabling Technologies for 6G Communications Values

Eduard Axel Jorswieck, Pin-Hsun Lin, Carsten Rudolf Janda

Published Oct 1, 2022• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Novel security primitives built on physical layer parameters gain interest for the design of the wireless 6G networks. Regarding key value indicators (KVI), the requirements for future 6G wireless networks are formulated. We select a subset of these KVIs, including safety, anonymity, scalability, sustainability, reliability, and resilience. First, the KVIs are defined. Next, we identify and review suitable physical layer security techniques, including selected results. They contain a coding theorem for arbitrarily varying wiretap channels with an informed jammer. Results on practical secret key generation are reviewed. Confidential stealth, and covert communications are included as well as certain differential privacy techniques. The zero-outage secrecy rate and ergodic secrecy rate maximization are briefly described, too. Finally, multi-mode fiber transmission, multiple-input multiple-output multiple-eavesdropper wiretap channels, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are listed. We argue that these results and physical layer security techniques enable the envisaged KVIs. Finally, open gaps for future research are motivated and discussed.

DOI
10.1109/fnwf55208.2022.00102

Related papers

An Overview of Key Technologies in Physical Layer Security

Abraham Sanenga, Galefang A. Mapunda, Tshepiso Jacob +3 more

The open nature of radio propagation enables ubiquitous wireless communication. This allows for seamless data transmission. However, unauthorized users may pose a threat to the security of the data being transmitted to authorized users. This gives rise to network vulnerabilities such as hacking, eavesdropping, and jamming of the transmitted information. Physical layer security (PLS) has been identified as one of the promising security approaches to safeguard the transmission from eavesdroppers in a wireless network. It is an alternative to the computationally demanding and complex cryptographic algorithms and techniques. PLS has continually received exponential research interest owing to the possibility of exploiting the characteristics of the wireless channel. One of the main characteristics includes the random nature of the transmission channel. The aforesaid nature makes it possible for confidential and authentic signal transmission between the sender and the receiver in the physical layer. We start by introducing the basic theories of PLS, including the wiretap channel, information-theoretic security, and a brief discussion of the cryptography security technique. Furthermore, an overview of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication is provided. The main focus of our review is based on the existing key-less PLS optimization techniques, their limitations, and challenges. The paper also looks into the promising key research areas in addressing these shortfalls. Lastly, a comprehensive overview of some of the recent PLS research in 5G and 6G technologies of wireless communication networks is provided.

Entropy•Nov 6, 2020•79 citations

Sustainability and Scalability of Physical Layer Security in Next-Generation Networks

Pin-Hsun Lin, Karl-Ludwig Besser, Eduard Axel Jorswieck

Physical layer security (PLS) has emerged as a promising approach to ensure data confidentiality in next-generation wireless networks. As these networks transition toward 6G and beyond, two pivotal design considerations are sustainability—the ability to maintain secure communications under limited resources—and scalability—the capacity to accommodate a massive number of users and devices without compromising performance. In this paper, we explore four critical issues that can hamper the sustainable and scalable deployment of PLS: superfluous protection of non-sensitive data, non-uniform resource utilization, outages caused by limited channel information, and the rigidity of reliability–secrecy tradeoffs in finite blocklength scenarios. We propose solutions for each challenge, including schemes that protect only latent sensitive content, opportunistic scheduling of secret key generation during off-peak hours, correlation shaping to enable zero-outage secrecy even under slow fading, and neural-network-based coding to flexibly balance reliability and secrecy. Numerical and experimental results show that these approaches can significantly improve energy efficiency, resource utilization, and secrecy performance. Our findings pave the way for more sustainable and scalable PLS strategies in future large-scale wireless deployments.

International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks•Jul 6, 2025•0 citations

Trusted Communications with Physical Layer Security for 5G and Beyond

Physical layer security is emerging as a promising means of ensuring secrecy in wireless communications. The key idea is to exploit the characteristics of wireless channels such as fading or noise to transmit a message from the source to the intended receiver while keeping this message confidential from eavesdroppers. Topics covered in Trusted Communications with Physical Layer Security for 5G and Beyond include secrecy metrics for physical layer security over fading channels; trusted wireless communications with spatial multiplexing; directional modulation enabled physical layer wireless security; secure waveform for 5G systems; confidential and energy efficient communications using physical layer security; secure data networks with channel uncertainty; antenna selection strategies for wiretap channels; physical layer security for massive MIMO systems, millimeter wave cellular networks, non-orthogonal multiple access, multiuser relay networks, cognitive radio networks, MIMOME-OFDM systems; wirelessly powered communication systems and D2D-enabled cellular networks; and security solutions and applications at the physical layer, including case studies of secret key generation and secrecy coding in communication nodes and terminals.

Institution of Engineering and Technology eBooks•Oct 15, 2017•32 citations

Physical layer security techniques for data transmission for future wireless networks

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.

Security and Safety•Jan 1, 2022•16 citations

Principles of Physical Layer Security in Multiuser Wireless Networks: A Survey

Amitav Mukherjee, S. Ali. A. Fakoorian, Jing Huang +1 more

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the domain of physical layer security in multiuser wireless networks. The essential premise of physical layer security is to enable the exchange of confidential messages over a wireless medium in the presence of unauthorized eavesdroppers, without relying on higher-layer encryption. This can be achieved primarily in two ways: without the need for a secret key by intelligently designing transmit coding strategies, or by exploiting the wireless communication medium to develop secret keys over public channels. The survey begins with an overview of the foundations dating back to the pioneering work of Shannon and Wyner on information-theoretic security. We then describe the evolution of secure transmission strategies from point-to-point channels to multiple-antenna systems, followed by generalizations to multiuser broadcast, multiple-access, interference, and relay networks. Secret-key generation and establishment protocols based on physical layer mechanisms are subsequently covered. Approaches for secrecy based on channel coding design are then examined, along with a description of inter-disciplinary approaches based on game theory and stochastic geometry. The associated problem of physical layer message authentication is also briefly introduced. The survey concludes with observations on potential research directions in this area.

arXiv:1011.3754•IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials•Jan 1, 2014•1,488 citations

Physical Layer Security for 5G Wireless Networks: A Comprehensive Survey

José David Vega Sánchez, Luis Felipe Urquiza-Aguiar, Martha Cecilia Paredes Paredes

Physical-layer security is emerging approach that can benefit conventional encryption methods. The main idea of physical layer security is to take advantage of the features of the wireless channel and its impairments in order to ensure secure communication in the physical layer. This paper provides a comprehensive review of information-theoretic measures of the secrecy performance in physical layer security. In addition, our work survey research about physical layer security over several enabling 5G technologies, such as massive multiple-input multiple-output, millimeter wave communications, heterogeneous networks, and full-duplex, including the key concepts of each of the aforementioned technologies. Finally, future research directions and technical challenges of physical layer security are identified.

Cyber Security in Networking Conference (CSNet)•Oct 1, 2019•24 citations
Novel security primitives built on physical layer parameters gain interest for the design of the wireless 6G networks. Regarding key value indicators (KVI), the requirements for future 6G wireless networks are formulated. We select a subset of these KVIs, including safety, anonymity, scalability, sustainability, reliability, and resilience. First, the KVIs are defined. Next, we identify and review suitable physical layer security techniques, including selected results. They contain a coding theorem for arbitrarily varying wiretap channels with an informed jammer. Results on practical secret key generation are reviewed. Confidential stealth, and covert communications are included as well as certain differential privacy techniques. The zero-outage secrecy rate and ergodic secrecy rate maximization are briefly described, too. Finally, multi-mode fiber transmission, multiple-input multiple-output multiple-eavesdropper wiretap channels, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are listed. We argue that these results and physical layer security techniques enable the envisaged KVIs. Finally, open gaps for future research are motivated and discussed.
The open nature of radio propagation enables ubiquitous wireless communication. This allows for seamless data transmission. However, unauthorized users may pose a threat to the security of the data being transmitted to authorized users. This gives rise to network vulnerabilities such as hacking, eavesdropping, and jamming of the transmitted information. Physical layer security (PLS) has been identified as one of the promising security approaches to safeguard the transmission from eavesdroppers in a wireless network. It is an alternative to the computationally demanding and complex cryptographic algorithms and techniques. PLS has continually received exponential research interest owing to the possibility of exploiting the characteristics of the wireless channel. One of the main characteristics includes the random nature of the transmission channel. The aforesaid nature makes it possible for confidential and authentic signal transmission between the sender and the receiver in the physical layer. We start by introducing the basic theories of PLS, including the wiretap channel, information-theoretic security, and a brief discussion of the cryptography security technique. Furthermore, an overview of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication is provided. The main focus of our review is based on the existing key-less PLS optimization techniques, their limitations, and challenges. The paper also looks into the promising key research areas in addressing these shortfalls. Lastly, a comprehensive overview of some of the recent PLS research in 5G and 6G technologies of wireless communication networks is provided.
Physical layer security (PLS) has emerged as a promising approach to ensure data confidentiality in next-generation wireless networks. As these networks transition toward 6G and beyond, two pivotal design considerations are sustainability—the ability to maintain secure communications under limited resources—and scalability—the capacity to accommodate a massive number of users and devices without compromising performance. In this paper, we explore four critical issues that can hamper the sustainable and scalable deployment of PLS: superfluous protection of non-sensitive data, non-uniform resource utilization, outages caused by limited channel information, and the rigidity of reliability–secrecy tradeoffs in finite blocklength scenarios. We propose solutions for each challenge, including schemes that protect only latent sensitive content, opportunistic scheduling of secret key generation during off-peak hours, correlation shaping to enable zero-outage secrecy even under slow fading, and neural-network-based coding to flexibly balance reliability and secrecy. Numerical and experimental results show that these approaches can significantly improve energy efficiency, resource utilization, and secrecy performance. Our findings pave the way for more sustainable and scalable PLS strategies in future large-scale wireless deployments.
Physical layer security is emerging as a promising means of ensuring secrecy in wireless communications. The key idea is to exploit the characteristics of wireless channels such as fading or noise to transmit a message from the source to the intended receiver while keeping this message confidential from eavesdroppers. Topics covered in Trusted Communications with Physical Layer Security for 5G and Beyond include secrecy metrics for physical layer security over fading channels; trusted wireless communications with spatial multiplexing; directional modulation enabled physical layer wireless security; secure waveform for 5G systems; confidential and energy efficient communications using physical layer security; secure data networks with channel uncertainty; antenna selection strategies for wiretap channels; physical layer security for massive MIMO systems, millimeter wave cellular networks, non-orthogonal multiple access, multiuser relay networks, cognitive radio networks, MIMOME-OFDM systems; wirelessly powered communication systems and D2D-enabled cellular networks; and security solutions and applications at the physical layer, including case studies of secret key generation and secrecy coding in communication nodes and terminals.
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.
This paper provides a comprehensive review of the domain of physical layer security in multiuser wireless networks. The essential premise of physical layer security is to enable the exchange of confidential messages over a wireless medium in the presence of unauthorized eavesdroppers, without relying on higher-layer encryption. This can be achieved primarily in two ways: without the need for a secret key by intelligently designing transmit coding strategies, or by exploiting the wireless communication medium to develop secret keys over public channels. The survey begins with an overview of the foundations dating back to the pioneering work of Shannon and Wyner on information-theoretic security. We then describe the evolution of secure transmission strategies from point-to-point channels to multiple-antenna systems, followed by generalizations to multiuser broadcast, multiple-access, interference, and relay networks. Secret-key generation and establishment protocols based on physical layer mechanisms are subsequently covered. Approaches for secrecy based on channel coding design are then examined, along with a description of inter-disciplinary approaches based on game theory and stochastic geometry. The associated problem of physical layer message authentication is also briefly introduced. The survey concludes with observations on potential research directions in this area.
Physical-layer security is emerging approach that can benefit conventional encryption methods. The main idea of physical layer security is to take advantage of the features of the wireless channel and its impairments in order to ensure secure communication in the physical layer. This paper provides a comprehensive review of information-theoretic measures of the secrecy performance in physical layer security. In addition, our work survey research about physical layer security over several enabling 5G technologies, such as massive multiple-input multiple-output, millimeter wave communications, heterogeneous networks, and full-duplex, including the key concepts of each of the aforementioned technologies. Finally, future research directions and technical challenges of physical layer security are identified.