A novel physical layer authentication scheme is proposed in this paper by exploiting the time-varying carrier frequency offset (CFO) associated with each pair of wireless communications devices. In realistic scenarios, radio frequency oscillators in each transmitter-and-receiver pair always present device-dependent biases to the nominal oscillating frequency. The combination of these biases and mobility-induced Doppler shift, characterized as a time-varying CFO, can be used as a radiometric signature for wireless device authentication. In the proposed authentication scheme, the variable CFO values at different communication times are first estimated. Kalman filtering is then employed to predict the current value by tracking the past CFO variation, which is modeled as an autoregressive random process. To achieve the proposed authentication, the current CFO estimate is compared with the Kalman predicted CFO using hypothesis testing to determine whether the signal has followed a consistent CFO pattern. An adaptive CFO variation threshold is derived for device discrimination according to the signal-to-noise ratio and the Kalman prediction error. In addition, a software-defined radio (SDR) based prototype platform has been developed to validate the feasibility of using CFO for authentication. Simulation results further confirm the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in multipath fading channels.

In the past few years, several encryption algorithms based on chaotic systems have been proposed as means to protect digital images against cryptographic attacks. These encryption algorithms typically use relatively small key spaces and thus offer limited security, especially if they are one‐dimensional. In this paper, we proposed a novel image encryption algorithm based on Rubik′s cube principle. The original image is scrambled using the principle of Rubik′s cube. Then, XOR operator is applied to rows and columns of the scrambled image using two secret keys. Finally, the experimental results and security analysis show that the proposed image encryption scheme not only can achieve good encryption and perfect hiding ability but also can resist exhaustive attack, statistical attack, and differential attack.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been viewed as a potential candidate for the upcoming generation of wireless communication systems. Comparing to traditional orthogonal multiple access (OMA), multiplexing users in the same time-frequency resource block can increase the number of served users and improve the efficiency of the systems in terms of spectral efficiency. Nevertheless, from a security viewpoint, when multiple users are utilizing the same time-frequency resource, there may be concerns regarding keeping information confidential. In this context, physical layer security (PLS) has been introduced as a supplement of protection to conventional encryption techniques by making use of the random nature of wireless transmission media for ensuring communication secrecy. The recent years have seen significant interests in PLS being applied to NOMA networks. Numerous scenarios have been investigated to assess the security of NOMA systems, including when active and passive eavesdroppers are present, as well as when these systems are combined with relay and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). Additionally, the security of the ambient backscatter (AmB)-NOMA systems are other issues that have lately drawn a lot of attention. In this paper, a thorough analysis of the PLS-assisted NOMA systems research state-of-the-art is presented. In this regard, we begin by outlining the foundations of NOMA and PLS, respectively. Following that, we discuss the PLS performances for NOMA systems in four categories depending on the type of the eavesdropper, the existence of relay, RIS, and AmB systems in different conditions. Finally, a thorough explanation of the most recent PLS-assisted NOMA systems is given.

Information security is becoming a critical challenge in wireless communications due to the open nature of wireless channels and the transparency of standardized transmission schemes. Among the various wireless security techniques, user authentication is one essential measure to identify legitimate users and protect the integrity of transmissions. In this paper, a novel physical layer authentication scheme is proposed to enhance the communication security by exploiting the unique characteristics of oscillator in each communication device. In realistic scenarios, radio frequency (RF) oscillators in each transmitter and receiver pair always present some bias to the nominal carrier frequency due to manufacturing limitations and operating conditions. This bias is characterized by a device-dependent carrier frequency offset (CFO), which can be used to identify a specific wireless transmitter. In the proposed authentication scheme, the CFO at different time of the received signal is first estimated. It is then examined by a hypothesis testing to determine whether the signal has the consistent CFO for authentication purpose. Adaptive thresholds of CFO variation are derived for user discrimination based on the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Simulation results further confirm the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in multipath fading environments.

In this paper, we present a novel eavesdropping-resilient OFDM system through sorted subcarrier interleaving. The transmitter interleaves subcarriers in each OFDM signal according to its dynamic channel state information (CSI) to the legitimate receiver. More specifically, subcarriers are interleaved according to the sorted order of their instantaneous channel gains that are observed at the transmitter. Based on channel reciprocity, the legitimate receiver can derive the interleaving pattern initiated by the transmitter through its local channel estimate, and then de-interleave the received signals. In contrast, since spatially separated wireless channels in rich multipath environments are independent of each other, an eavesdropper at a third location cannot follow the dynamic subcarrier interleaving permutation, and thus fails to eavesdrop this transmission. Considering the imperfect reciprocity of noisy channel estimates at the legitimate terminals, only a subset of subcarriers in each OFDM signal is involved in the interleaving. A subcarrier selection algorithm is investigated to realize a trade-off between the eavesdropping resilience and transmission reliability. Theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo simulations have been provided to validate the proposed system. Compared with prior security enhancement schemes, the proposed approach requires only minor modifications to off-the-shelf systems and avoids additional resource consumption.

A series of error sequence measurements in a typical mobile radio channel has been conducted to study the time distribution of transmission errors. E.N. Gilbert's (1960) and B.D. Fritchman's (1967) digital communication channel models are shown to describe adequately the observed error bursts occurring in the mobile radio channel. An estimation method based on the gradient algorithm is proposed for computing the parameters values of both models from the experimentally derived error distributions. A digital mobile radio channel simulator based on Gilbert's and Fritchman's models with the parameter values as estimated using the gradient technique is presented.