What Physical Layer Security Can Do for 6G Security

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleInvitedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Miroslav Mitev - , Barkhausen Institut (Author)
  • Arsenia Chorti - , Barkhausen Institut, CY Cergy Paris Université (Author)
  • H. Vincent Poor - , Princeton University (Author)
  • Gerhard P. Fettweis - , Vodafone Chair of Mobile Communications Systems (Author)

Abstract

While existing security protocols were designed with a focus on the core network, the enhancement of the security of the B5G access network becomes of critical importance. Despite the strengthening of 5G security protocols with respect to LTE, there are still open issues that have not been fully addressed. This work is articulated around the premise that rethinking the security design bottom up, starting at the physical layer, is not only viable in 6G but importantly, arises as an efficient way to overcome security hurdles in novel use cases, notably massive machine type communications (mMTC), ultra reliable low latency communications (URLLC) and autonomous cyberphysical systems. Unlike existing review papers that treat physical layer security orthogonally to cryptography, we will try to provide a few insights of underlying connections. Discussing many practical issues, we will present a comprehensive review of the state-of the-art in i) secret key generation from shared randomness, ii) the wiretap channels and fundamental limits, iii) authentication of devices using physical unclonable functions (PUFs), localization and multi-factor authentication, and, iv) jamming attacks at the physical layer. We finally conclude with the proposers' aspirations for the 6G security landscape, in the hyper-connectivity and semantic communications era.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)375-388
Number of pages14
JournalIEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology
Volume4
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • 5G, 6G, physical layer security, physical unclonable functions, secret key generation, wiretap coding