Fundamental properties of on-off transmission scheme for wiretap channels

This work reveals some fundamental properties of an on-off transmission (OOT) scheme, in which a transmitter sends signals occasionally as per the capacity of the main channel in order to achieve physical layer security. To this end, we first identify the widely used hybrid secrecy outage probability as a function of the transmission probability and the conditional secrecy outage probability of the OOT scheme. This indicates, for the first time, that the hybrid secrecy outage probability can be achieved by the OOT scheme. We then derive a lower bound on the conditional secrecy outage probability of the OOT scheme in case of transmission, which is solely determined by the average signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the main channel and eavesdropper’s channel. Finally, we re-investigate the OOT scheme within an absolutely completely passive eavesdropping scenario, in which even the average SNR of the eavesdropper’s channel is not required. Specifically, we derive an easy-evaluated expression for the average conditional secrecy outage probability of the OOT scheme by adopting an annulus threat model.ARC Discovery Projects Grant DP150103905

Covert communication with finite blocklength in AWGN channels

Covert communication is to achieve a reliable transmission from a transmitter to a receiver while guaranteeing an arbitrarily small probability of this transmission being detected by a warden. In this work, we study the covert communication in AWGN channels with finite blocklength, in which the number of channel uses is finite. Specifically, we analytically prove that the entire block (all available channel uses) should be utilized to maximize the effective throughput of the transmission subject to a predetermined covert requirement. This is a nontrivial result because more channel uses results in more observations at the warden for detecting the transmission. We also determine the maximum allowable transmit power per channel use, which is shown to decrease as the blocklength increases. Despite the decrease in the maximum allowable transmit power per channel use, the maximum allowable total power over the entire block is proved to increase with the blocklength, which leads to the fact that the effective throughput increases with the blocklength.ARC Discovery Projects Grant DP15010390

Secret Channel Training to Enhance Physical Layer Security With a Full-Duplex Receiver

This work proposes a new channel training (CT) scheme for a full-duplex receiver to enhance physical layer security. Equipped with NB full-duplex antennas, the receiver simultaneously receives the information signal and transmits artificial noise (AN). In order to reduce the non-cancellable self-interference due to the transmitted AN, the receiver has to estimate the self-interference channel prior to the data communication phase. In the proposed CT scheme, the receiver transmits a limited number of pilot symbols which are known only to itself. Such a secret CT scheme prevents an eavesdropper from estimating the jamming channel from the receiver to the eavesdropper, hence effectively degrading the eavesdropping capability. We analytically examine the connection probability (i.e., the probability of the data being successfully decoded by the receiver) of the legitimate channel and the secrecy outage probability due to eavesdropping for the proposed secret CT scheme. Based on our analysis, the optimal power allocation between CT and data/AN transmission at the legitimate transmitter/receiver is determined. Our examination shows that the newly proposed secret CT scheme significantly outperforms the non-secret CT scheme that uses publicly known pilots when the number of antennas at the eavesdropper is larger than one.ARC Discovery Projects Grant DP15010390

TAS-Based Incremental Hybrid Decode–Amplify–Forward Relaying for Physical Layer Security Enhancement

In this paper, a transmit antenna selection (TAS)- based incremental hybrid decode-amplify-forward (IHDAF) scheme is proposed to enhance physical layer security in cooperative relay networks. Specifically, TAS is adopted at the source in order to reduce the feedback overhead. In the proposed TAS-based IHDAF scheme, the network transmits signals to the destination adaptive select direction transmission mode, AF mode or DF mode depending on the capacity of the source-relay link and source-relay link. In order to fully examine the benefits of the proposed TAS-based IHDAF scheme, we first derive its secrecy outage probability (SOP) in a closed-form expression. We then conduct asymptotic analysis on the SOP, which reveals the secrecy performance floor of the proposed TAS-based IHDAF scheme when no channel state information is available at the source. Theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed TAS-based IHDAF scheme outperforms the selective decode-and-forward (SDF), the incremental decodeand-forward (IDF), and the noncooperative direction transmission (DT) schemes in terms of the SOP and effective secrecy throughout, especially when the relay is close to the destination. Furthermore, the proposed TAS-based IHDAF scheme offer a good trade-off between complexity and performance compare with using all antennas at the source.ARC Discovery Projects Grant DP150103905