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ACM Computing Surveys

The Security in Optical Wireless Communication: A Survey

Xiao Zhang, Griffin Klevering, Xinyu Lei, Yiwen Hu, Li Xiao, Guan-Hua Tu

Published Apr 28, 2023• 68 citations
Publisher

Abstract

With the demand for economical and high-speed wireless services, Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) has attracted increasing attention in both research and the market. In the past decades, numerous optical-related techniques (e.g., LEDs, displays, cameras) and systems (e.g., VLC, LiFi, LiDAR) have been invented. OWC techniques, which are considered as a competitive mechanics in next-generation networks as an alternative to RF approaches, offer 10,000 times more bandwidth than conventional radio frequency (RF)-based wireless techniques (e.g., WiFi, LoRa, Bluetooth, LTE), as well as tremendous spatial reuse potential with even less interference. Because optical communications have a limited wavelength and travel in the line of sight (LoS) manner, the OWC is commonly thought as a secure wireless approach to confine light transmissions within physical bounds. However, in the real world, it is completely untrue. The privacy leakages and security risks broadly exist in the optical-related wireless applications including OWC networks. These threats and weaknesses have recently been the subject of several initial studies. However, they lack systematic analysis and are isolated. This survey first presents a general workflow of OWC systems, which consists of three stages: before signal emission (BSE), during signal propagation (DSP), and after signal receiving (ASV). For each stage, related risks are reviewed. Then, we summarize existing attacks in optical-related wireless applications and corresponding counter-attack solutions. Finally, we outline the future trends for improving OWC security.

DOI
10.1145/3594718

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With the demand for economical and high-speed wireless services, Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) has attracted increasing attention in both research and the market. In the past decades, numerous optical-related techniques (e.g., LEDs, displays, cameras) and systems (e.g., VLC, LiFi, LiDAR) have been invented. OWC techniques, which are considered as a competitive mechanics in next-generation networks as an alternative to RF approaches, offer 10,000 times more bandwidth than conventional radio frequency (RF)-based wireless techniques (e.g., WiFi, LoRa, Bluetooth, LTE), as well as tremendous spatial reuse potential with even less interference. Because optical communications have a limited wavelength and travel in the line of sight (LoS) manner, the OWC is commonly thought as a secure wireless approach to confine light transmissions within physical bounds. However, in the real world, it is completely untrue. The privacy leakages and security risks broadly exist in the optical-related wireless applications including OWC networks. These threats and weaknesses have recently been the subject of several initial studies. However, they lack systematic analysis and are isolated. This survey first presents a general workflow of OWC systems, which consists of three stages: before signal emission (BSE), during signal propagation (DSP), and after signal receiving (ASV). For each stage, related risks are reviewed. Then, we summarize existing attacks in optical-related wireless applications and corresponding counter-attack solutions. Finally, we outline the future trends for improving OWC security.
As the existing radio-frequency (RF) networks cannot meet the ever-increasing data rate demand, the optical wireless communication (OWC), which uses a wide untapped unregulated spectrum, has been proposed as a promising technology to overcome the RF spectrum limitations. On the other hand, with the increasing demand for high data rate and the prevalence of the broadcast-nature networks, researchers have recently come up with new mechanisms to improve secure communication using physical layer techniques. Compared to RF networks, the OWC networks are more secure and less susceptible to the interception because of the small coverage provided by LEDs, and because they work properly only in the presence of the line-of-sight (LoS) components. However, the security in OWC networks is still an issue, especially in visible light communication (VLC) when the transmitted information can be accessed by multiple users as in public areas, meeting rooms, laboratories, and libraries. That means potential eavesdroppers may be existing to gather confidential messages. This paper reviews all the conducted work on physical layer security (PLS) in two types of OWC networks, which are the VLC and free space optical (FSO) networks. Furthermore, the paper proposes several open problems in these networks to optimize and enhance the security performance.
Underwater wireless optical communications are a developing alternative to meet the increasing need for high-speed connections in oceans and seas. Optical wireless communications (OWCs) are more secure and less susceptible to eavesdropping compared to acoustic communications or radio frequency (RF) communications due to their narrow optical beam coverage and reliance on line-of-sight components. Nevertheless, the existence of a hostile eavesdropper can compromise the level of confidentiality achieved by OWC networks. This article provides a concise overview of the latest research conducted on physical layer security (PLS) in underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC). Furthermore, this work presents the relevant unresolved matters, approaches for enhancing secrecy performance, and potential areas for further research.
In the last decade data-centers have become a crucial element in our society. As a result, in the coming years there will be increased threat from hackers, who could cause outage of the data-center, extract millions of account details, or steal financial and sensitive information. One way to reduce these threats is to divide the data-center into sub data-centers, and connect them by secure links which prevent access by unauthorized users. A possible technology to connect between the sub data-centers is optical wireless communication (OWC) or free space optics (FSO). An OWC link includes an optical receiver and laser transmitter. The transmitter transmits a light beam that carries information which propagates to the receiver. The light beam carrying the information propagates through the air. In order to increase the security and make the penetration and intrusion difficult quantum key distribution (QKD) is added to the link. By doing so the information exchange between the sub data-centers is encrypted. In this paper we review up to date literature in the field, propose an implementation scheme of an OWC network in sub data-centers, and discuss ways to hack the system.
Due to the dramatic increase in high data rate services and in order to meet the demands of the fifth-generation (5G) networks, researchers from both academia and industry are exploring advanced transmission techniques, new network architectures and new frequency spectrum such as the visible light and the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectra. Visible light communication (VLC) particularly is an emerging technology that has been introduced as a promising solution for 5G and beyond, owing to the large unexploited spectrum, which translates to significantly high data rates. Although VLC systems are more immune against interference and less susceptible to security vulnerabilities since light does not penetrate through walls, security issues arise naturally in VLC channels due to their open and broadcasting nature, compared to fiber-optic systems. In addition, since VLC is considered to be an enabling technology for 5G, and security is one of the 5G fundamental requirements, security issues should be carefully addressed and resolved in the VLC context. On the other hand, due to the success of physical layer security (PLS) in improving the security of radio-frequency (RF) wireless networks, extending such PLS techniques to VLC systems has been of great interest. Only two survey papers on security in VLC have been published in the literature. However, a comparative and unified survey on PLS for VLC from information theoretic and signal processing point of views is still missing. This paper covers almost all aspects of PLS for VLC, including different channel models, input distributions, network configurations, precoding/signaling strategies, and secrecy capacity and information rates. Furthermore, we propose a number of timely and open research directions for PLS-VLC systems, including the application of measurement-based indoor and outdoor channel models, incorporating user mobility and device orientation into the channel model, and combining VLC and RF systems to realize the potential of such technologies.
Optical wireless communication (OWC) has emerged as one promising candidate to mitigate the frequency spectrum crisis. Due to the broadcast nature of OWC channel, physical layer security (PLS) techniques have been considered and explored to improve the transmission confidentiality of OWC links. However, almost all current schemes focus on scenarios including multiple transmitters and fail to match the scenarios with limited transmitters, even single transmitter. For addressing this issue, in this work, the dynamic optical beam based PLS enhancement scheme is proposed. Unlike conventional Lambertian beam based technique paradigm, the above scheme tentatively utilize the commercially available non-Lambertian beam to configure the secure OWC links. Numerical results show that, compared with about 1.10 bps/Hz average secrecy capacity (SC) of the conventional configuration, up to 1.93 bps/Hz average SC gain could be provided by the proposed dynamic beam scheme. Moreover, this potential gain will be increased to about 2.39 bps/Hz when the diversity combing is available for the legitimate user receiver.
Light-fidelity (LiFi) is a light-based wireless communication technology which can complement radio-frequency (RF) communication technologies for indoor applications. Although LiFi signals are spatially more contained than RF signals, the broadcasting nature of LiFi also makes it susceptible to eavesdropping. Therefore, it is important to secure the transmitted data against potential eavesdroppers. In this paper, an overview of the recent developments pertaining to LiFi physical layer security (PLS) is provided, and the main differences between LiFi PLS and RF PLS are explained. LiFi achievable secrecy rates and upper bounds are then investigated under practical channel models and transmission schemes. Beamforming and jamming, which received significant research attention recently as a means to achieve PLS in LiFi, are also investigated under indoor illumination constraints. Finally, future research directions of interest in LiFi PLS are identified and discussed. This article is part of the theme issue 'Optical wireless communication'.