A Secure Transmission Scheme Based on Artificial Fading for Wireless CrowdSensing Networks

Area of Science:

• Wireless Communications
• Network Security
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Wireless crowdsensing networks require secure data transmission from low-cost, single-antenna nodes.
• Existing security methods may not be suitable for resource-constrained environments.
• Physical layer security offers a promising approach for enhancing security at the transmission level.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel physical layer communication scheme for secure data transmission in wireless crowdsensing networks.
• To develop a method for encrypting and decrypting data using a self-generated random key.
• To evaluate the security and performance of the proposed scheme against eavesdropping.

Main Methods:

• A physical layer security scheme is proposed for single-antenna nodes in static channel wireless crowdsensing networks.
• Digital modulated symbols are encrypted using a complex random variable (random key) generated from a synchronized chaotic sequence and a two-stage block interleaver.
• The complex random variable's envelope follows a Rayleigh distribution, and its phase is uniformly distributed, mimicking channel fading for encryption and decryption.

Main Results:

• The bit error ratio (BER) performance for legitimate users matches the theoretical Rayleigh fading channel.
• Eavesdroppers face an extremely high BER (approximately 0.5), rendering information interception infeasible.
• The scheme effectively secures low-cost communication nodes without compromising legitimate user performance.

Conclusions:

• The proposed physical layer security scheme provides robust protection against eavesdropping in wireless crowdsensing networks.
• The encryption technique effectively utilizes channel-like properties to secure transmissions.
• This approach is suitable for low-cost, single-antenna nodes operating under static channel conditions.