Physical-Layer Security in Wireless and Wireline Transmission

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Werner Henkel
• Subject Area: Electronic Semiconductors, Components and Circuits, Integrated Systems, Sensor Technology, Theoretical Electrical Engineering
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 412069402

This proposal focuses on key generation and reconciliation procedures for physical layer security, for the latter mainly employing binary and non-binary LDPC codes. The optimization of LDPC codes for this application is quite demanding, since the usual consistent Gaussian assumption does not hold and actual density evolution has to be applied, which is usually not the case, even if the name is used by most authors. Almost always, only one parameter (the mean or variance) are treated in a linear program, which is only possible under a consistency assumption, which clearly does not hold in our physical-layer security application.Apart from channel coding methods, the underlying quantization together with guard bands is discussed, as well.We have already studied some aspects based on wireless reciprocal time-division duplex (TDD) channels, but would also now extend physical-layer key generation and reconciliation to wireless frequency-division duplexing (FDD) and wireline channels,which opens two new additional directions. For FDD, we will use the directions of arrival of wave components as the common measure from duplex channel probing that will be used for key generation. For power line applications, maxima and notches in the transfer functions between power outlets show similarities in both directions, whereas an eavesdropper is expected to see different ones.The project contains important steps for the practical application of physical-layer key generation and opens it for new channels. It is hence a major contribution for the upcoming development of the Internet of Things.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants