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 Network

Securing RSMA-Based Communications at Physical Layer

Shuai Han, Huiyun Xia, Xiaokang Zhou, Cheng Li

Published Jun 19, 2023• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) has emerged as a promising enabling technique for next generation wireless communications. Its unique structure and powerful interference management capability has brought new challenges and opportunities to safeguarding communications at the physical layer. In this article, we review security issues in the presence of internal and external eavesdroppers, respectively. Some mainstream techniques for addressing the introduced security concerns are presented. The role of optimizing the successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoding order in securing RSMA is further discussed explicitly. Finally, some open problems and research directions are envisioned.

DOI
10.1109/mnet.135.2200584

Related papers

Safeguarding Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access with Physical Layer Techniques

Youhong Feng, Shihao Yan, Nan Yang +2 more

This article clarifies pivotal security issues in the context of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology and presents potential methodologies to address them at the physical layer. Specifically, we first clarify the channel conditions for an external eavesdropper to use successive interference cancellation (SIC) for cancelling interference, which has recently been considered in the literature of physical layer security for NOMA. We then explicitly demonstrate the advantages and drawbacks of using NOMA to achieve wireless communication security; that is, NOMA improves the security of a strong user, but reduces the security of a weak user. Finally, we discuss a strategy to protect the confidentiality of a weak user's information from a strong user, while still allowing the latter to seek SIC for harnessing the benefits of NOMA. Research challenges and future works along the aforementioned three different aspects of security issues in NOMA are presented in this article.

IEEE Network•May 1, 2022•10 citations

Precoding Optimization Assisted Secure Transmission for Rate-Splitting Multiple Access

Dongdong Li, Zhutian Yang, Nan Zhao +3 more

Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) is an emerging multiple access strategy, with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and space division multiple access (SDMA) as its two special cases. RSMA divides the messages required by users into the private and common parts, and the private streams are naturally suitable for the secure transmission. In this paper, we establish a unified rate-splitting framework to ensure the secure transmission for the three multiple access systems mentioned above. The precoders at the multi-antenna transmitter are conjointly optimized to improve the transmission rate of common message. Successive interference cancellation (SIC) is utilized, and the private message for the downlink broadcasting RSMA network can be effectively hidden in the high-power common message. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed rate-splitting framework can effectively guarantee the secure transmission of the secrecy information.

International Conference on Communications•May 16, 2022•6 citations

Safeguarding Next-Generation Multiple Access Using Physical Layer Security Techniques: A Tutorial

Lu Lv, Dongyang Xu, Rose Qingyang Hu +6 more

Driven by the ever-increasing requirements of ultrahigh spectral efficiency, ultralow latency, and massive connectivity, the forefront of wireless research calls for the design of advanced next-generation multiple access schemes to facilitate the provisioning of these stringent demands. This inspires the embrace of nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in future wireless communication networks. Nevertheless, the support of massive access via NOMA leads to additional security threats due to the open nature of the air interface, the broadcast characteristic of radio propagation, and the intertwined relationship among paired NOMA users. To address this specific challenge, the superimposed transmission of NOMA can be explored as new opportunities for security-aware design; for example, multiuser interference inherent in NOMA can be constructively engineered to benefit communication secrecy and privacy. The purpose of this tutorial is to provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art physical layer security techniques that guarantee wireless security and privacy for NOMA networks, along with the opportunities, technical challenges, and future research trends.

arXiv:2403.16477•Proceedings of the IEEE•Jul 22, 2024•105 citations

Secure Communication for RSMA Systems: Integrating Spatial and WFRFT Signal Domains

Heng Dong, Xiaojie Fang, Jun Zhao +3 more

In this letter, we investigate secure communication for the downlink rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) system by integrating both the spatial domain and weighted fractional Fourier transform (WFRFT) signal domain to enhance its physical layer security (PLS) performance. To counter the external passive eavesdropper, we propose an RSMA-CM-WFRFT scheme to promote the dual use of the common message (CM), thereby improving the secrecy rate of both common and private messages. Specifically, the common message is encoded based on WFRFT, enabling all received power of legitimate users for signal reconstruction, while introducing inter-component interference at the eavesdropper. Furthermore, the inevitable serial interference caused by the WFRFT-encoded CM sequence overlays onto the private message (PM), thus enhancing its security. To counter internal eavesdroppers, we propose an RSMA-PM-WFRFT scheme to achieve parallel encryption by encoding the private message of different users into different WFRFT domains. Additionally, we formulate and solve a non-convex optimization problem aimed at minimizing the required power under both security and reliability constraints. Numerical results demonstrate the superior performance of the two proposed schemes.

IEEE Communications Letters•Sep 10, 2024•7 citations

A Novel Grouping-Based Rate-Splitting Multiple Access Scheme Against Internal Eavesdropping

Chang Liu, Junji Pan, Zheng Xue +2 more

In this paper, we propose a novel grouping-based rate splitting multiple access (G-RSMA) against internal eavesdroppers (Eves). Specifically, after users are grouped, their messages are split and encoded into inner-group common and private streams. The inner-group common streams could achieve the dual use: they deliver designated information to legitimate users and serve as artificial noise (AN) to Eves. To ensure the security among users in the presence of internal Eves, our approach maximizes the minimum secrecy rate (MSR) of all legitimate users in the system, which is formulated as a non-convex problem. We tackle it with a novel algorithm leveraging successive convex approximation (SCA), enabling efficient optimization of the transmit precoding scheme. Numerical results show that the G-RSMA approach enhances the MSR performance compared with the one-layer rate splitting multiple access (RSMA) or space division multiple access (SDMA), validating its effectiveness in securing RSMA systems against internal eavesdropping.

IEEE Wireless Communications Letters•Sep 30, 2025•5 citations

Ergodic Secrecy Rate Analysis for RSMA Among Untrusted Users over Rician Fading Channels

Pradosh Kumar Hota, Deepak Mishra, Ravikant Saini +1 more

Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) is a technique that is widely used in next-generation wireless systems to efficiently manage multiple users. RSMA splits the transmission into two parts using rate splitting, which increases spectral efficiency. However, this technique also makes a portion of the transmission vulnerable to eavesdropping, which can compromise information security. This vulnerability is not limited to external eavesdroppers but also includes internal eavesdropping among users who share the same transmission. Therefore, there is an increasing need to develop secure RSMA systems to address these critical security issues among untrusted users. This paper focuses on a single-antenna RSMA downlink system with multiple untrusted users undergoing Rician channel fading. In this novel system framework considered for performance analysis, each user interprets its own common and private streams while attempting to eavesdrop on the private streams of other users. We evaluate the system-level performance in practical settings involving line-of-sight (LoS) paths using the Rician channel model and derive a tight closed-form approximate expression of the ergodic secrecy rate. Finally, we conduct numerical simulations to validate the theoretical analysis and provide valuable insights into the critical system parameters that impact the achievable ergodic secrecy performance of the RSMA system with untrusted users.

Globecom•Dec 8, 2024•3 citations
Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) has emerged as a promising enabling technique for next generation wireless communications. Its unique structure and powerful interference management capability has brought new challenges and opportunities to safeguarding communications at the physical layer. In this article, we review security issues in the presence of internal and external eavesdroppers, respectively. Some mainstream techniques for addressing the introduced security concerns are presented. The role of optimizing the successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoding order in securing RSMA is further discussed explicitly. Finally, some open problems and research directions are envisioned.
This article clarifies pivotal security issues in the context of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology and presents potential methodologies to address them at the physical layer. Specifically, we first clarify the channel conditions for an external eavesdropper to use successive interference cancellation (SIC) for cancelling interference, which has recently been considered in the literature of physical layer security for NOMA. We then explicitly demonstrate the advantages and drawbacks of using NOMA to achieve wireless communication security; that is, NOMA improves the security of a strong user, but reduces the security of a weak user. Finally, we discuss a strategy to protect the confidentiality of a weak user's information from a strong user, while still allowing the latter to seek SIC for harnessing the benefits of NOMA. Research challenges and future works along the aforementioned three different aspects of security issues in NOMA are presented in this article.
Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) is an emerging multiple access strategy, with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and space division multiple access (SDMA) as its two special cases. RSMA divides the messages required by users into the private and common parts, and the private streams are naturally suitable for the secure transmission. In this paper, we establish a unified rate-splitting framework to ensure the secure transmission for the three multiple access systems mentioned above. The precoders at the multi-antenna transmitter are conjointly optimized to improve the transmission rate of common message. Successive interference cancellation (SIC) is utilized, and the private message for the downlink broadcasting RSMA network can be effectively hidden in the high-power common message. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed rate-splitting framework can effectively guarantee the secure transmission of the secrecy information.
Driven by the ever-increasing requirements of ultrahigh spectral efficiency, ultralow latency, and massive connectivity, the forefront of wireless research calls for the design of advanced next-generation multiple access schemes to facilitate the provisioning of these stringent demands. This inspires the embrace of nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in future wireless communication networks. Nevertheless, the support of massive access via NOMA leads to additional security threats due to the open nature of the air interface, the broadcast characteristic of radio propagation, and the intertwined relationship among paired NOMA users. To address this specific challenge, the superimposed transmission of NOMA can be explored as new opportunities for security-aware design; for example, multiuser interference inherent in NOMA can be constructively engineered to benefit communication secrecy and privacy. The purpose of this tutorial is to provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art physical layer security techniques that guarantee wireless security and privacy for NOMA networks, along with the opportunities, technical challenges, and future research trends.
In this letter, we investigate secure communication for the downlink rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) system by integrating both the spatial domain and weighted fractional Fourier transform (WFRFT) signal domain to enhance its physical layer security (PLS) performance. To counter the external passive eavesdropper, we propose an RSMA-CM-WFRFT scheme to promote the dual use of the common message (CM), thereby improving the secrecy rate of both common and private messages. Specifically, the common message is encoded based on WFRFT, enabling all received power of legitimate users for signal reconstruction, while introducing inter-component interference at the eavesdropper. Furthermore, the inevitable serial interference caused by the WFRFT-encoded CM sequence overlays onto the private message (PM), thus enhancing its security. To counter internal eavesdroppers, we propose an RSMA-PM-WFRFT scheme to achieve parallel encryption by encoding the private message of different users into different WFRFT domains. Additionally, we formulate and solve a non-convex optimization problem aimed at minimizing the required power under both security and reliability constraints. Numerical results demonstrate the superior performance of the two proposed schemes.
In this paper, we propose a novel grouping-based rate splitting multiple access (G-RSMA) against internal eavesdroppers (Eves). Specifically, after users are grouped, their messages are split and encoded into inner-group common and private streams. The inner-group common streams could achieve the dual use: they deliver designated information to legitimate users and serve as artificial noise (AN) to Eves. To ensure the security among users in the presence of internal Eves, our approach maximizes the minimum secrecy rate (MSR) of all legitimate users in the system, which is formulated as a non-convex problem. We tackle it with a novel algorithm leveraging successive convex approximation (SCA), enabling efficient optimization of the transmit precoding scheme. Numerical results show that the G-RSMA approach enhances the MSR performance compared with the one-layer rate splitting multiple access (RSMA) or space division multiple access (SDMA), validating its effectiveness in securing RSMA systems against internal eavesdropping.
Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) is a technique that is widely used in next-generation wireless systems to efficiently manage multiple users. RSMA splits the transmission into two parts using rate splitting, which increases spectral efficiency. However, this technique also makes a portion of the transmission vulnerable to eavesdropping, which can compromise information security. This vulnerability is not limited to external eavesdroppers but also includes internal eavesdropping among users who share the same transmission. Therefore, there is an increasing need to develop secure RSMA systems to address these critical security issues among untrusted users. This paper focuses on a single-antenna RSMA downlink system with multiple untrusted users undergoing Rician channel fading. In this novel system framework considered for performance analysis, each user interprets its own common and private streams while attempting to eavesdrop on the private streams of other users. We evaluate the system-level performance in practical settings involving line-of-sight (LoS) paths using the Rician channel model and derive a tight closed-form approximate expression of the ergodic secrecy rate. Finally, we conduct numerical simulations to validate the theoretical analysis and provide valuable insights into the critical system parameters that impact the achievable ergodic secrecy performance of the RSMA system with untrusted users.