Physical Layer Key Generation based on Channel State Information

Project Outline:

Physical layer key generation has been emerged as an alternative key sharing solution relative to the public key cryptography systems. It is based on the wireless channel reciprocity, which enables that the two transceivers share some common randomness that is unknown to others and thus can be explored to generate secret cryptographic keys. This project focuses on the physical layer key generation based on channel state information (CSI), which can potentially achieve higher key rates relative to that based on received signal strength. The first task of this project is to conduct a thorough literature review on the CSI-based key generation schemes, understanding the key generation steps, achievable key rate, and the limiting factors. The second task of this project is to build up a CSI-based physical layer key generation system via using the available software and hardware platforms at ECU (e.g., Ettus X310, N210, Spectrum analyzer). Then, the final task is to examine the impact of different system parameters (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, channel correlation) on the achievable key rate and then develop new schemes to enhance the key rate. This project should lead to multiple high-quality journal publications.

Literature samples:

• Key Generation From Wireless Channels: A Review
• Physical Layer Key Generation in 5G and Beyond Wireless Communications: Challenges and Opportunities
• Secret Key Generation Based on Estimated Channel State Information for TDD-OFDM Systems Over Fading Channels
• Secret Key Generation Using One-Bit Quantized Channel State Information
• Wireless Key Generation from Imperfect Channel State Information: Performance Analysis and Improvements
• On the Key Generation From Correlated Wireless Channels
• Tutorial: How to Construct an RFFI System

Available platforms at ECU:

• Ettus USRP X310
• Ettus USRP N210
• R&S FSV3000 Signal and spectrum analyzer

Available software platforms:

• PicoScenes: Supercharging Your Next Wi-Fi Sensing Research
• OpenWiFi: An industry movement for accelerating Wi-Fi infrastructure innovation

Preferred Skills (not required): Experience with software define radios, MATLAB, basic wireless communication knowledge.

Project Area: Wireless Cybersecurity

Research Centre: Security Research Institute (SRI)

Supervisor(s): Dr Shihao YAN

Project level: Masters / PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Any