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IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications

Enhancing Communication Security in TDMA-Based Multi-User VLC With Obstructed Links: A Relay-Aided Cooperative Transmission and Jamming Approach

Kun Wu, Yuhan Dong, Xinchun Yu, Yongkang Ding, Jian Song, Xiao-Ping Steven Zhang

Published Nov 19, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an innovative relay-aided physical layer security scheme leveraging cooperative transmission and jamming that operates effectively in time-division-multiple-access-based multi-user visible light communication (MuVLC) systems with obstructed communication links. First, to circumvent obstacles between the light source (LS) and legal receivers, we utilize a transmission relay (TR) to forward information signals from the LS to the receiver plane. Subsequently, to ensure communication security, we select a jamming relay to enlarge the channel capacity gap between eavesdroppers and legal receivers through cooperative jamming. Using stochastic geometry, we derive closed-form expressions for key performance metrics, including the cumulative distribution function of secrecy capacity, security outage probability, and their lower and upper bounds, both with and without relay cooperation. To further enhance system security, we introduce a disk-shaped security-protected zone around the TR. All analytical expressions are numerically verified through Monte Carlo simulations, serving as benchmarks to evaluate security performance. Numerical results confirm that our proposed scheme can ensure continuous signal reception and high-level security. Furthermore, while relay cooperation modestly enhances system security, the introduction of a security-protected zone around the TR yields substantial security improvement, which offers practical insights for designing secure time-division-multiple-access-based MuVLC where communication links are obstructed.

DOI
10.1109/twc.2025.3631330

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In this paper, we propose an innovative relay-aided physical layer security scheme leveraging cooperative transmission and jamming that operates effectively in time-division-multiple-access-based multi-user visible light communication (MuVLC) systems with obstructed communication links. First, to circumvent obstacles between the light source (LS) and legal receivers, we utilize a transmission relay (TR) to forward information signals from the LS to the receiver plane. Subsequently, to ensure communication security, we select a jamming relay to enlarge the channel capacity gap between eavesdroppers and legal receivers through cooperative jamming. Using stochastic geometry, we derive closed-form expressions for key performance metrics, including the cumulative distribution function of secrecy capacity, security outage probability, and their lower and upper bounds, both with and without relay cooperation. To further enhance system security, we introduce a disk-shaped security-protected zone around the TR. All analytical expressions are numerically verified through Monte Carlo simulations, serving as benchmarks to evaluate security performance. Numerical results confirm that our proposed scheme can ensure continuous signal reception and high-level security. Furthermore, while relay cooperation modestly enhances system security, the introduction of a security-protected zone around the TR yields substantial security improvement, which offers practical insights for designing secure time-division-multiple-access-based MuVLC where communication links are obstructed.
Traditional physical layer security (PLS) schemes for multi-user visible light communication (MuVLC) are designed with multiple light sources, rendering them inapplicable to MuVLC with single light source. To address this limitation, we propose an innovative relay-aided PLS scheme based on cooperative jamming for MuVLC with single light source. First, we randomly select parts of relays for cooperative jamming, modeling their locations as a Poisson point process (PPP). Then, a jamming signal introduced through these selected relays significantly decreases the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio of the randomly located eavesdroppers, thereby increasing the security capacity. By modeling the eavesdropper locations as another independent PPP, we analyze the security performance by deriving closed-form expressions for the cumulative distribution function of security capacity, security outage probability, its lower and upper bounds, and ergodic security capacity. These theoretical expressions are verified via Monte Carlo simulations. Numerical results show that our scheme achieves high-level communication security. Furthermore, increasing relay density, decreasing eavesdropper density, reducing target security capacity, or lowering relay plane height can effectively reduce security outage probability, offering valuable insights for designing secure MuVLC with single light source.
The risk of information leakage increases when the relay technology is introduced to extend the communication range and improve the quality of communication services of cell-edge users in visible light communication (VLC) systems. To evaluate these security risks, physical layer security (PLS) performance for decode-and-forward (DF) relay-aided VLC system is investigated in this paper. Specifically, the theoretical expressions of the upper and lower bounds of the security outage probability (SOP) for the DF relay-aided VLC system under the amplitude constraint are obtained based on a stochastic geometry analysis method. Monte Carlo simulation validates the correctness of the derived theoretical expressions of the upper and lower bounds of the SOP. Moreover, simulation results show that the security outage performance of the DF relay-aided VLC system is deteriorated compared with the non-relay VLC system. Furthermore, the influences of the eavesdroppers' distribution density, the radiation radius of LED source, the radiation radius and deployment height of the relay on the SOP have been investigated. Last but not least, the optimal deployment height of the relay can be determined for achieving the optimum security outage performance. These parameters can effectively guide the design of the secure relay-aided VLC system.
A visible light communication (VLC) system with an improved noise model applied to physical layer security (PLS) is investigated, where secure beamforming signals with superposition coding are used. In the improved model, the output signal follows Gaussian distribution, but its variance is signal-dependent. Two different methods are proposed to obtain lower and upper bounds on the secrecy rate of the strong user for direct transmission. Under some constraints, closed-form expressions of the lower and upper bounds on secrecy rate regions for various (trusted cooperative half-duplex) relaying schemes are derived. Moreover, the scenarios of blockage/outside coverage are included, and the relevant security performances are discussed. Numerical results show that the lower and upper bounds on secrecy rate regions are tight enough, and the cooperative jamming is superior over other relaying schemes.
In this paper, we study the physical-layer security in a 3-D multiuser visible light communication (VLC) network. The locations of access points (APs) and mobile users are modeled as two 2-D, independent and homogeneous Poisson point processes at distinct heights. Using mathematical tools from stochastic geometry, we provide a new analytical framework to characterize the secrecy performance in multiuser VLC networks. Closed-form results for the outage probability and the ergodic secrecy rate are derived for networks without AP cooperation. Considering the cooperation among APs, we give tight lower and upper bounds on the secrecy outage probability and the ergodic secrecy rate. To further enhance the secrecy performance at the legitimate user, a disk-shaped secrecy protected zone is implemented in the vicinity of the transmit AP. Based on the obtained results, it is shown that cooperating neighboring APs in a multiuser VLC network can bring performance gains on the secrecy rate, but only to a limited extent. We also show that building an eavesdropper-free protected zone around the AP significantly improves the secrecy performance of legitimate users, which appears to be a promising solution for the design of multiuser VLC networks with high security requirements.
We study a relay and user selection scheme to improve the secrecy performance of cooperative multi-user multiple amplify-and-forward (AF) relay network. Nevertheless, relay transmission is highly susceptible to eavesdropping since confidential information is broadcasted twice, i.e., by the source and the relay. In particular, we propose a cooperative jamming aided secure transmission through the relay path. Furthermore, with the presence of the direct path, a transmission mode selection scheme is elaborated in such a way to reduce the amount of information leaked to non-selected users in the system, who may overhear the source message as eavesdroppers. Specifically, the selected relay is only activated when it has better secrecy performance than the source. We study the impact of outdated channel state information (CSI) on the system by deriving a closed-form lower bound for the secrecy outage probability (SOP). By investigating the effect of the jamming power level and the correlation coefficients imbalance, a comparison reveals that the proposed scheme outperforms the fixed transmission modes and its signal-to-noise ratio based counterpart. It is shown that the secrecy outage probability can be decreased as the number of destinations grows unless the number of relays is small. Importantly, optimal relay location and jamming power allocation significantly enhance the secrecy performance.
A visible light communication (VLC) broadcast channel is considered, in which a transmitter communicates with two receivers in the presence of an external eavesdropper. Trusted cooperative half-duplex relays are deployed to aid with securing the transmitted data. Transmission is amplitude-constrained to maintain operation within the light emitting diodes (LEDs) dynamic range. Achievable secrecy rate regions are derived under such amplitude constraints for this multi receiver wiretap channel, first for direct transmission without the relays, and then for cooperative jamming, decode-and-forward, and amplify-and-forward relaying schemes. Superposition coding with uniform signaling is used for transmission, along with secure beamforming at the relays. Superiority of the secure relaying schemes over direct transmission is shown, with performance depending on how far the eavesdropper is from the transmitter and the relays.