A Survey of Physical Layer Security Techniques for 5G Wireless Networks and Challenges Ahead

Physical layer security which safeguards data confidentiality based on the information-theoretic approaches has received significant research interest recently. The key idea behind physical layer security is to utilize the intrinsic randomness of the transmission channel to guarantee the security in physical layer. The evolution towards 5G wireless communications poses new challenges for physical layer security research. This paper provides a latest survey of the physical layer security research on various promising 5G technologies, including physical layer security coding, massive multiple-input multiple-output, millimeter wave communications, heterogeneous networks, non-orthogonal multiple access, full duplex technology, etc. Technical challenges which remain unresolved at the time of writing are summarized and the future trends of physical layer security in 5G and beyond are discussed.Comment: To appear in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication

Research Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities of Wireless Power Transfer-Aided Full-Duplex Relay Systems

We present a comprehensive review for wireless power transfer (WPT)-aided full-duplex (FD) relay systems. Two critical challenges in implementing WPT-aided FD relay systems are presented, that is, pseudo FD realization and high power consumption. Existing time-splitting or power-splitting structure based-WPT-aided FD relay systems can only realize FD operation in one of the time slots or only forward part of the received signal to the destination, belonging to pseudo FD realization. Besides, self-interference is treated as noise and self-interference cancellation (SIC) operation incurs high power consumption at the FD relay node. To this end, a promising solution is outlined to address the two challenges, which realizes consecutive FD realization at all times and forwards all the desired signal to the destination for decoding. Also, active SIC, that is, analog/digital cancellation, is not required by the proposed solution, which effectively reduces the circuit complexity and releases high power consumption at the FD relay node. Specific classifications and performance metrics of WPT-aided FD relay systems are summarized. Some future research is also envisaged for WPT-aided FD systems

Principles of Physical Layer Security in Multiuser Wireless Networks: A Survey

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the domain of physical layer security in multiuser wireless networks. The essential premise of physical-layer security is to enable the exchange of confidential messages over a wireless medium in the presence of unauthorized eavesdroppers without relying on higher-layer encryption. This can be achieved primarily in two ways: without the need for a secret key by intelligently designing transmit coding strategies, or by exploiting the wireless communication medium to develop secret keys over public channels. The survey begins with an overview of the foundations dating back to the pioneering work of Shannon and Wyner on information-theoretic security. We then describe the evolution of secure transmission strategies from point-to-point channels to multiple-antenna systems, followed by generalizations to multiuser broadcast, multiple-access, interference, and relay networks. Secret-key generation and establishment protocols based on physical layer mechanisms are subsequently covered. Approaches for secrecy based on channel coding design are then examined, along with a description of inter-disciplinary approaches based on game theory and stochastic geometry. The associated problem of physical-layer message authentication is also introduced briefly. The survey concludes with observations on potential research directions in this area.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, 303 refs. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1303.1609 by other authors. IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, 201

Secure Massive MIMO Communication with Low-resolution DACs

In this paper, we investigate secure transmission in a massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system adopting low-resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs). Artificial noise (AN) is deliberately transmitted simultaneously with the confidential signals to degrade the eavesdropper's channel quality. By applying the Bussgang theorem, a DAC quantization model is developed which facilitates the analysis of the asymptotic achievable secrecy rate. Interestingly, for a fixed power allocation factor $\phi$, low-resolution DACs typically result in a secrecy rate loss, but in certain cases they provide superior performance, e.g., at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Specifically, we derive a closed-form SNR threshold which determines whether low-resolution or high-resolution DACs are preferable for improving the secrecy rate. Furthermore, a closed-form expression for the optimal $\phi$ is derived. With AN generated in the null-space of the user channel and the optimal $\phi$, low-resolution DACs inevitably cause secrecy rate loss. On the other hand, for random AN with the optimal $\phi$, the secrecy rate is hardly affected by the DAC resolution because the negative impact of the quantization noise can be compensated for by reducing the AN power. All the derived analytical results are verified by numerical simulations.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure

Secure Simultaneous Information and Power Transfer for Downlink Multi-User Massive MIMO

In this article, downlink secure transmission in simultaneous information and power transfer (SWIPT) system enabled with massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is studied. A base station (BS) with a large number of antennas transmits energy and information signals to its intended users, but these signals are also received by an active eavesdropper. The users and eavesdropper employ a power splitting technique to simultaneously decode information and harvest energy. Massive MIMO helps the BS to focus energy to the users and prevent information leakage to the eavesdropper. The harvested energy by each user is employed for decoding information and transmitting uplink pilot signals for channel estimation. It is assumed that the active eavesdropper also harvests energy in the downlink and then contributes during the uplink training phase. Achievable secrecy rate is considered as the performance criterion and a closed-form lower bound for it is derived. To provide secure transmission, the achievable secrecy rate is then maximized through an optimization problem with constraints on the minimum harvested energy by the user and the maximum harvested energy by the eavesdropper. Numerical results show the effectiveness of using massive MIMO in providing physical layer security in SWIPT systems and also show that our closed-form expressions for the secrecy rate are accurate