'Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre'
Doi
Abstract
It was well known from Shannon’s days that characteristics of the physical channel like attenuation, fadingand noise can impair reliable communication. But it was more recently that the beneficial side effects of channelcharacteristics in ensuring secret communication started getting attention. Studies have been made to quantify theamount of secrecy that can be reaped by combining channel coding with security protocols. The Wiretap channelproposed by Wyner is arguably one of the oldest models of physical layer security protocols. In this paper, wepresent a brief tutorial introduction to the Wiretap channel, followed by an application of the physical layer modelto a class of Key Distribution protocols. We present results from an implementation of key distribution protocolsusing Software Defined Radio tools along with physical RF hardware peripherals. We believe this approach is muchmore tangible and informative than computer based simulation studies.Defence Science Journal, 2013, 63(1), pp.6-14, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.63.375
