This study introduces a comprehensive physical layer security (PLS) scheme in visible light communication (VLC) systems using non-Lambertian beamforming and intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs). It withstands eavesdropping and attacks to secure indoor VLCs, even with imperfect channel state information (CSI). In conventional VLC systems, the required illuminance maintaining normal communication is about 80 lux. The proposed scheme reduces the illuminance in a potential eavesdropping area to 5.2 lux by manipulating the direction and intensity of the optical signals, which leads to eavesdropping failure. Meanwhile, the proposed scheme is jamming-resistant. Simulations demonstrate that the system adopting the proposed security scheme has a SINR of 40.32 dB with jamming attacks, compared to 26.13 dB in typical VLC systems, so the resisting interference ability is improved by 54%. Eavesdropping resistance and attack resilience make VLC security in sensitive contexts more robust.
This study introduces a comprehensive physical layer security (PLS) scheme in visible light communication (VLC) systems using non-Lambertian beamforming and intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs). It withstands eavesdropping and attacks to secure indoor VLCs, even with imperfect channel state information (CSI). In conventional VLC systems, the required illuminance maintaining normal communication is about 80 lux. The proposed scheme reduces the illuminance in a potential eavesdropping area to 5.2 lux by manipulating the direction and intensity of the optical signals, which leads to eavesdropping failure. Meanwhile, the proposed scheme is jamming-resistant. Simulations demonstrate that the system adopting the proposed security scheme has a SINR of 40.32 dB with jamming attacks, compared to 26.13 dB in typical VLC systems, so the resisting interference ability is improved by 54%. Eavesdropping resistance and attack resilience make VLC security in sensitive contexts more robust.
Visible light communication (VLC) is a burgeoning field in wireless communications as it considers illumination and communication simultaneously. The broadcast nature of VLC makes it necessary to consider the security of underlying transmissions. A physical-layer security (PLS) scheme by introducing jamming LEDs is considered in this paper. The secrecy rate of an indoor VLC system with multiple LEDs, one legitimate receiver, and multiple eavesdroppers is investigated. Three distributions of input signal are assumed, i.e., truncated generalized normal distribution (TGN), uniform distribution, and exponential distribution. The results show that jamming can improve the secrecy performance efficiently. This paper also demonstrates that when the numbers of LEDs transmitting information-bearing signal and jamming signal are equal, the average secrecy rate can be maximized.
Visible light communication (VLC) is a new enabling communication technology that exploits illumination devices, mostly high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs), to establish high-speed short-range wireless communication links. VLC is a promising technology that has gained significant interest in the last decade due to its high data rates and low cost of deployment. Although VLC systems are less susceptible to eavesdropping than RF systems since light does not penetrate through walls, they become as vulnerable as their radio-frequency (RF) counterparts when their nodes are deployed in public areas and/or when there are large windows. Thus, security for VLC systems is as important as it is for RF systems. Security in wireless communication systems may be enhanced by introducing physical layer security (PLS) techniques. In fact, PLS has been applied to a wide range of RF applications in an effort to improve the overall security by complementing existing cryptography-based security techniques. The potential of PLS stems from its ability of leveraging features of the surrounding environments via sophisticated encoding techniques at the physical layer. Indeed, PLS schemes can be applied in the same spirit to VLC systems. \n \nThere exist many specificities that characterize VLC systems, leading to major differences compared to RF systems. Specifically, VLC channels are quasi-static and real valued channels, which seemingly simplify the application of PLS techniques. However, due to the limited dynamic range of the LEDs, VLC systems impose an amplitude constraint on the channel input, which makes unbounded inputs not admissible. As a result, the performance of PLS schemes must be revised in the VLC context due to its different operating constraints. \n \nWe propose in this thesis enhancing the secrecy performance of VLC systems through PLS techniques. Firstly, we consider the degraded single-input single-output (SISO) VLC system. We derive achievable secrecy rates using continuous and discrete input distributions and we demonstrate the substantial improvement in the secrecy performance by using discrete distributions. Secondly, we consider the multiple-input single-output (MISO) VLC systems. We consider at first the case of randomly located eavesdroppers, in which we develop an associated achievable secrecy rate and we develop a beamforming-based precoding scheme that enhances the secrecy performance of this class of systems. In the second part, we consider the multi-user (MU) MISO broadcast system with confidential messages and we develop linear precoding schemes that enhance typical secrecy performance measures, including the max-min fairness and the weighted fairness. Finally, we consider the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) VLC system. We derive achievable secrecy rates using continuous and discrete distributions and we develop linear precoding schemes that improve its secrecy performance.
Due to the broadcast nature of visible light communications (VLC) channel, physical layer security (PLS) techniques have been considered to improve the transmission confidentiality of VLC links. However, almost all current schemes merely work with multiple distributed transmitters and fail to serve the scenarios with centralized transmitters, even single transmitter. For addressing this issue, in this work, the dynamic inclined optical beam-based PLS enhancement scheme is proposed. Unlike conventional Lambertian beam-based technique paradigm, the above scheme utilizes the commercially available typical non-Lambertian beams to form the secure VLC links. Numerical results show that, compared with the conventional static Lambertian configuration, up to 5.52 bps/Hz average secrecy capacity gain could be derived via the proposed dynamic scheme using two inclined candidate beams. Moreover, this potential gain will be further elevated to about 6.63 bps/Hz when up to four candidate beams are available at the transmitter.
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.
Summary Visible light communication (VLC) is considered to be a great replacement or complement to existing radio frequency networks to provide the future fifth‐generation (5G) wireless technology with higher data rates for indoor connectivity, which alleviates the traffic demand. Therefore, many issues emerged regarding the security in 5G networks as human safety is at risk. This work presents a comprehensive study on the physical‐layer security (PLS) and solutions in 5G networks, specifically, the security of VLC technology as one of the core PLS solutions for 5G future wireless networks. Furthermore, VLC threats and PLS solutions are extensively investigated. Based on our study, we propose a new indoor VLC secure model to enhance the secrecy performance in VLC networks using a combination of multiple PLS techniques to achieve this aim as beamforming, secure communication zones, and friendly jamming. The simulation results with respect to the received optical power and signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) prove that the proposed indoor VLC model can improve the secrecy performance. As the user's SNR exceeded 100 dB and optical received power reached 15 mW, the malicious user's SNR barely reached 30 dB with a 4‐μW received power outside the target zone increasing his interference level. Finally, future research directions in VLC security are outlined to encourage future research.
Visible light communication (VLC) is a promising technology for next-generation indoor wireless broadband communication systems. Physical layer security (PLS) is one proposed method to ensure data security for VLC in public areas. However, most PLS studies in the literature neglect the reflections in the VLC channel and do not consider inter-symbol interference (ISI). This paper investigates the ISI effects on the secrecy rate in multiple-input single-output VLC systems where the reflections are not neglected for the cases of perfect and imperfect knowledge of the eavesdropper’s channel state information. We aim to compensate for the ISI effects by designing zero-forcing (ZF) and artificial noise (AN) beamformers. In addition, we formulate optimization problems to maximize the secrecy rate resulting in non-convex and NP-hard problems. Thus, we utilize the particle swarm optimization algorithm for solutions and also convert non-convex optimization problems into easily solvable linear problems. Furthermore, robust ZF and AN beamformers for the worst-case scenario are considered for the cases of ISI and no ISI. The results reveal that ISI severely degrades the secrecy rate; however, well-designed beamformers can reverse the ISI effects.