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Secure wireless access in ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), which is a critical aspect of 5G security, has become increasingly important due to its potential support of grant-free configuration. In grant-free URLLC, precise allocation of different pilot resources to different users that share the same time-frequency resource is essential for the next generation NodeB (gNB) to exactly identify those users under access collision and to maintain precise channel estimation required for reliable data transmission. However, this process easily suffers from attacks on pilots. We in this paper propose a quantum learning based nonrandom superimposed coding method to encode and decode pilots on multidimensional resources, such that the uncertainty of attacks can be learned quickly and eliminated precisely. Particularly, multiuser pilots for uplink access are encoded as distinguishable subcarrier activation patterns (SAPs) and gNB decodes pilots of interest from observed SAPs, a superposition of SAPs from access users, by joint design of attack mode detection and user activity detection though a quantum learning network (QLN). We found that the uncertainty lies in the identification process of codeword digits from the attacker, which can be always modelled as a black-box model, resolved by a quantum learning algorithm and quantum circuit. Novel analytical closed-form expressions of failure probability are derived to characterize the reliability of this URLLC system with short packet transmission. Simulations how that our method can bring ultra-high reliability and low latency despite attacks on pilots., Comment: Accepted by IEEE TIFS

In the envisioned 5G, uplink grant-free multiple access will become the enabler of ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) services. By removing the forward scheduling request (SR) and backward scheduling grant (SG), pilot-based channel estimation and data transmission are launched in one-shot communications with the aim of maintaining the reliability of $99.999\% $ or more and latency of 1ms or less under 5G new radio (NR) numerologies. The problem is that channel estimation can easily suffer from pilot aware attack which significantly reduces the system reliability. To solve this, we proposed to apply the hierarchical 2-D feature coding (H2DF) coding on time-frequency-code domain to safeguard channel state information (CSI), which informs a fundamental rethinking of reliability, latency and accessibility. Considering uplink large-scale single-input multiple-output (SIMO) reception of short packets, we characterize the analytical closed-form expression of reliability and define the accessibility of system. We find two fundamental tradeoffs: reliability-latency and reliability-accessibility. With the the help of the two fundamental trade-offs, we demonstrate how CSI protection could be integrated into uplink grant-free multiple access to strengthen URLLC services comprehensively., Comment: Accepted in The 11th International Conference on. Wireless Communications and Signal Processing

Based on the concept of constructive interference (CI), multiuser interference (MUI) has recently been shown to be beneficial for communication secrecy. A few CI-based secure precoding algorithms have been proposed that use both the channel state information (CSI) and knowledge of the instantaneous transmit symbols. In this paper, we examine the CI-based secure precoding problem with a focus on smart eavesdroppers that exploit statistical information gleaned from the precoded data for symbol detection. Moreover, the impact of correlation between the main and eavesdropper channels is taken into account. We first modify an existing CI-based preocding scheme to better utilize the destructive impact of the interference. Then, we point out the drawback of both the existing and the new modified CI-based precoders when faced with a smart eavesdropper. To address this deficiency, we provide a general principle for precoder design and then give two specific design examples. Finally, the scenario where the eavesdropper's CSI is unavailable is studied. Numerical results show that although our modified CI-based precoder can achieve a better energy-secrecy trade-off than the existing approach, both have a limited secrecy benefit. On the contrary, the precoders developed using the new CI-design principle can achieve a much improved trade-off and significantly degrade the eavesdropper's performance., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, submitted to potential IEEE journal

In wireless OFDM communications systems, pilot tones, due to their publicly known and deterministic characteristic, suffer significant jamming/nulling/spoofing risks. Thus, the convectional channel training protocol using pilot tones could be attacked and paralyzed, which raises the issue of anti-attack channel training authentication (CTA), i.e., verifying the claims of identities of pilot tones and channel estimation samples. In this paper, we consider one-ring scattering scenarios with large-scale uniform linear arrays (ULA) and develop an independence-checking coding (ICC) theory to build a secure and stable CTA protocol, namely, ICC-based CTA (ICC-CTA) protocol. In this protocol, the pilot tones are not only merely randomized and inserted into subcarriers but also encoded as diversified subcarrier activation patterns (SAPs) simultaneously. Those encoded SAPs, though camouflaged by malicious signals, can be identified and decoded into original pilots for high-accuracy channel impulse response (CIR) estimation. The CTA security is first characterized by the error probability of identifying legitimate CIR estimation samples. The CTA instability is formulated as the function of probability of stably estimating CIR against all available diversified SAPs. A realistic tradeoff between the CTA security and instability under the discretely distributed AoA is identified and an optimally stable tradeoff problem is formulated, with the objective of optimizing the code rate to maximize security while maintaining maximum stability for ever. Solving this, we derive the closed-form expression of optimal code rate. Numerical results finally validate the resilience of proposed ICC-CTA protocol., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1803.02089

Due to the publicly known and deterministic characteristic of pilot tones, pilot authentication (PA) in multi-user multi-antenna orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing systems is very susceptible to the jamming/nulling/spoofing behaviors. To solve this, in this paper, we develop a hierarchical 2-D feature (H2DF) coding theory that exploits the hidden pilot signal features, i.e., the energy feature and independence feature, to secure pilot information coding which is applied between legitimate parties through a well-designed five-layer hierarchical coding model to achieve secure multiuser PA (SMPA). The reliability of SMPA is characterized using the identification error probability (IEP) of pilot encoding and decoding with the exact closed-form upper and lower bounds. However, this phenomenon of non-tight bounds brings about the risk of long-term instability in SMPA. Therefore, a reliability bound contraction theory is developed to shrink the bound interval, and practically, this is done by an easy-to-implement technique, namely, codebook partition within the H2DF code. In this process, a tradeoff between the upper and lower bounds of IEP is identified and a problem of optimal upper and lower bound tradeoff is formulated, with the objective of optimizing the cardinality of sub-codebooks such that the upper and lower bounds coincide. Solving this, we finally derive an exact closed-form expression for IEP, which realizes a stable and highly reliable SMPA. Numerical results validate the stability and resilience of H2DF coding in SMPA.

Due to the publicly-known deterministic character- istic of pilot tones, pilot-aware attack, by jamming, nulling and spoofing pilot tones, can significantly paralyze the uplink channel training in large-scale MISO-OFDM systems. To solve this, we in this paper develop an independence-checking coding based (ICCB) uplink training architecture for one-ring scattering scenarios allowing for uniform linear arrays (ULA) deployment. Here, we not only insert randomized pilots on subcarriers for channel impulse response (CIR) estimation, but also diversify and encode subcarrier activation patterns (SAPs) to convey those pilots simultaneously. The coded SAPs, though interfered by arbitrary unknown SAPs in wireless environment, are qualified to be reliably identified and decoded into the original pilots by checking the hidden channel independence existing in subcarri- ers. Specifically, an independence-checking coding (ICC) theory is formulated to support the encoding/decoding process in this architecture. The optimal ICC code is further developed for guaranteeing a well-imposed estimation of CIR while maximizing the code rate. Based on this code, the identification error probability (IEP) is characterized to evaluate the reliability of this architecture. Interestingly, we discover the principle of IEP reduction by exploiting the array spatial correlation, and prove that zero-IEP, i.e., perfect reliability, can be guaranteed under continuously-distributed mean angle of arrival (AoA). Besides this, a novel closed form of IEP expression is derived in discretely- distributed case. Simulation results finally verify the effectiveness of the proposed architecture., Comment: accepted in IEEE International Conference on Communications 2018

We in this paper introduce an advanced eavesdropper that aims to paralyze the artificial-noise-aided secure communications. We consider the M-1-2 Gaussian MISO wiretap channel, which consists of a M-antenna transmitter, a single-antenna receiver, and a two-antenna eavesdropper. This type of eavesdropper, by adopting an optimal Grassmann manifold (OGM) filtering structure, can reduce the maximum achievable secrecy rate (MASR) to be zero by using only two receive antennas, regardless of the number of antennas at the transmitter. Specifically, the eavesdropper exploits linear filters to serially recover the legitimate information symbols and intends to find the optimal filter that minimizes the meansquare error (MSE) in estimating the symbols. During the process, a convex semidefinite programming (SDP) problem with constraints on the filter matrix can be formulated and solved. Interestingly, the resulted optimal filters constitute a complex Grassmann manifold on the matrix space. Based on the filters, a novel expression of MASR is derived and further verified to be zero under the noiseless environment. Besides this, an achievable variable region (AVR) that induces zero MASR is presented analytically in the noisy case. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the huge disaster in the respect of secrecy rate., Comment: accepted in IEEE GOLBECOM 2017

A pilot spoofer can paralyze the channel estimation in multi-user orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFD- M) systems by using the same publicly-known pilot tones as legitimate nodes. This causes the problem of pilot authentication (PA). To solve this, we propose, for a two-user multi-antenna OFDM system, a code-frequency block group (CFBG) coding based PA mechanism. Here multi-user pilot information, after being randomized independently to avoid being spoofed, are converted into activation patterns of subcarrier-block groups on code-frequency domain. Those patterns, though overlapped and interfered mutually in the wireless transmission environment, are qualified to be separated and identified as the original pilots with high accuracy, by exploiting CFBG coding theory and channel characteristic. Particularly, we develop the CFBG code through two steps, i.e., 1) devising an ordered signal detection technique to recognize the number of signals coexisting on each subcarrier block, and encoding each subcarrier block with the detected number; 2) constructing a zero-false-drop (ZFD) code and block detection based (BD) code via k-dimensional Latin hypercubes and integrating those two codes into the CFBG code. This code can bring a desirable pilot separation error probability (SEP), inversely proportional to the number of occupied subcarriers and antennas with a power of k. To apply the code to PA, a scheme of pilot conveying, separation and identification is proposed. Based on this novel PA, a joint channel estimation and identification mechanism is proposed to achieve high-precision channel recovery and simultaneously enhance PA without occupying extra resources. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of our proposed mechanism., Comment: accepted to IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, Jan. 2018

Intelligent transportation system attracts a great deal of research attention because it helps enhance traffic safety, improve driving experiences, and transportation efficiency. Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) supports wireless connections among vehicles and offers information exchange, thus significantly facilitating intelligent transportation systems. Since the vehicles move fast and often change lanes unpredictably, the network topology evolves rapidly in a random fashion, which imposes diverse challenges in routing protocol design over VANET. When it comes to the 5G era, the fulfilment of ultra low end-to-end delay and ultra high reliability becomes more crucial than ever. In this paper, we propose a novel routing protocol that incorporates mobility status and MAC layer channel contention information. The proposed routing protocol determines next hop by applying mobility information and MAC contention information which differs from existing greedy perimeter stateless routing (GPSR) protocol. Simulation results of the proposed routing protocol show its performance superiority over the existing approach.