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IEEE Wireless Communications Letters

Analysis of PHY-Layer Security and Covert Communication in Hybrid Power-Frequency Multiple Access Systems

Anh‐Tu Le, Thai-Hoc Vu, Tran Trung Duy, Lam‐Thanh Tu, Miroslav Vozn̆ák

Published Dec 9, 2024• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This study analyzes the physical-layer security and covert communication in hybrid power-frequency multiple-access (PFMA) systems. By partially overlapping users’ signals in power domains coupled with orthogonal transmission, PFMA exhibits strong resistance to untrusted users exploiting information intended for a distant user in non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), for its ability to successive interference cancellation-free approach. In the context of internal users intercepting signals within the same power domain, external users eavesdropping on legitimate users, and external wardens monitoring communications, we derive closed-form expressions for the connection outage probability (COP), secrecy outage probability (SOP), and detection error probability (DEP). Furthermore, we establish closed-form approximations for the optimal transmitting signal-to-noise ratio and the warden’s detection threshold factors to minimize the DEP. Numerical results are studied to very demonstrate the superiority of PFMA in improving COP and SOP compared to NOMA. The study also examines the impacts of different knowledge communication channels on DEP performance.

DOI
10.1109/lwc.2024.3514655

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This study analyzes the physical-layer security and covert communication in hybrid power-frequency multiple-access (PFMA) systems. By partially overlapping users’ signals in power domains coupled with orthogonal transmission, PFMA exhibits strong resistance to untrusted users exploiting information intended for a distant user in non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), for its ability to successive interference cancellation-free approach. In the context of internal users intercepting signals within the same power domain, external users eavesdropping on legitimate users, and external wardens monitoring communications, we derive closed-form expressions for the connection outage probability (COP), secrecy outage probability (SOP), and detection error probability (DEP). Furthermore, we establish closed-form approximations for the optimal transmitting signal-to-noise ratio and the warden’s detection threshold factors to minimize the DEP. Numerical results are studied to very demonstrate the superiority of PFMA in improving COP and SOP compared to NOMA. The study also examines the impacts of different knowledge communication channels on DEP performance.
Covert communication and physical layer security (PLS) have emerged as two essential pillars for safeguarding wireless networks against increasingly sophisticated eavesdropping and surveillance threats. This paper investigates a downlink hybrid power–frequency multiple access (HPMA) system aided by a friendly jammer, where a single source communicates with two legitimate users in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. By jointly exploiting the power and frequency domains, the proposed HPMA scheme achieves clear advantages in terms of covertness and secrecy performance compared to conventional orthogonal multiple access (OMA) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes. For performance analysis, we derive closed-form and approximated expressions for key metrics, including detection error probability (DEP), secrecy outage probability (SOP), effective secrecy throughput (EST), and average secrecy capacity (ASC), which reveal important trade-offs among resource allocation, jammer power, and secrecy reliability. To further reduce the computational burden of conventional analysis, a regression-based deep neural network (DNN) framework is developed to efficiently predict the secrecy performance of the considered system. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations validate the analytical results and confirm the superiority of the proposed HPMA scheme with friendly jamming. These findings provide useful insights for the design of future secure and covert wireless systems with low-complexity and intelligent physical-layer security requirements.
Spectrum sharing and successive interference cancellation (SIC) techniques used in power-domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems impose secrecy challenges because untrusted users can decode the information of trusted ones. In this context, physical layer security (PLS) appears as an alternative to address the possible risks. In this paper, the secrecy performance of a power-domain NOMA network that employs improper Gaussian signals (IGS) is explored for the first time. The system model considers the downlink where a base station (BS) employs IGS to transmit information to a couple of users. It is assumed that the user closest to the BS is the trusted user and the user furthest away is the untrusted user. The network security is evaluated in terms of the secrecy outage probability (SOP) considering imperfect SIC at the receivers. Expressions to evaluate the achievable rate for each user are calculated and, with these results, an expression to evaluate the SOP is also obtained. Results show that IGS allow the security to be improved, i.e., the SOP can be reduced if the impropriety degree of the transmitted signals is properly selected based on the operation parameters.
This letter proposes a joint covert and secure transmission scheme in the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) networks against internal eavesdropping and external monitoring. In the network, the strong user wiretaps the signals of the weak user while an external warden monitors the communication behaviors of the strong user. To address the issue, a random artificial noise (AN) based beamforming is adopted, which not only reduces the eavesdropping rate of the strong user but also confuses the warden. We consider the worst case, where the warden can minimize the detection error probability (DEP) by optimizing its detection threshold. Further, we characterize the closed-form expressions of the average minimum DEP of the warden, the connection outage probabilities of the NOMA users and the secrecy outage probability of the weak user under the imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC). To improve the performance, an effective covert rate maximization problem is formulated, under the constraints of the covertness, reliability and secrecy, which is analytically solved. Numerical results validate the superiority of the proposed scheme.
In this paper, we analyze the outage probability and secrecy capacity of a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system in the presence of an eavesdropper. In order to enhance spectral efficiency, a base station communicates with two users simultaneously in the same frequency band by superpimposing the transmit signals to the users in the power domain. Specifically, the user with the worse channel conditions is allocated higher power such that it is able to directly decode its signal from the received superimposed signal. At the user with the better channel conditions, the interference due to NOMA is processed by successive interference cancelation. Given these system settings and accounting for decoding thresholds, we analyze the outage probability of the NOMA system over Rayleigh fading channels. Furthermore, based on the locations of the users and eavesdropper, the secrecy capacity is analyzed to assess the level of security provided to the legitimate users in the presence of an eavesdropper. Here, the decoding thresholds of legitimate users and eavesdropper are also included in the analysis of the secrecy capacity. Through numerical results, the effects of network parameters on system performance are assessed as well as the the superiority of NOMA in terms of secrecy capacity over traditional orthogonal multiple access.
It is challenging to covert communication under channel distribution information (CDI) uncertainty caused by limited feedback and rapid-changing channels. This letter investigates covert communication in uplink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems under CDI uncertainty, where a covert user (CU) and reliable user (RU) transmit messages to a legitimate receiver (Bob) threatened by a warden (Willie). RU not only transmits its public messages but also helps CU to send private messages against Willie’s detection. To protect CU’s transmission with imperfect CDI, we first study the worst case for NOMA users and obtain a lower bound of the worst-case detection error probability (DEP). In addition, both closed-form expressions for RU and CU’s connection outage probabilities are derived. Constrained by the DEP and connection outage probability, we maximize the expected covert rate (ECR) and derive the optimal power settings for RU and CU under imperfect CDI. Numerical results show that the proposed robust power setting scheme achieves a positive maximum ECR despite CDI uncertainty causing the reduction of covertness performance.
Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) can be combined with physical layer security technology to greatly improve spectral efficiency while tackling security issues for the Internet of Things (IoT) networks. This paper investigates the security performance in a fifth-generation (5G) downlink NOMA system with an untrusted user in the presence of imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC). Analytical expressions of secrecy outage probability (SOP) and connection outage probability (COP) are derived as performance metrics to evaluate the secrecy of the proposed system. In order to further improve the secrecy performance, we propose an optimal power allocation scheme based on two users' different quality of service (QoS) requirements and obtain a closed-form solution of the optimal parameter. Through numerical simulations and exhaustive search algorithm, we validate the correctness of the derived analytical results. It is proved that the proposed power allocation scheme can achieve the optimal secrecy performance.