This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will add security of the strongest type to the physical layer of wireless communication systems, a layer in the protocol stack where currently little or no security is implemented. Despite existing security mechanisms that operate at higher layers of the protocol stack, the lack of any security measure at the wireless physical layer poses a significant threat. Hence, the goal of this project is to provide reliable and secure broadband wireless connectivity against passive eavesdroppers, where data privacy is tied to proximity to the data source. In this physical layer security approach, privacy will be provided by powerful error correcting codes and pre-processing techniques to deliver high reliability to the intended parties and high security against remote eavesdroppers. The intellectual merit of this proposal is in new approaches to physical layer communications, from both theoretical and practical perspectives. This project will focus on: (1) Development of secure codes for 60GHz wireless communications, (2) Implementation of an uncompressed video platform with secure codes to demonstrate secure wireless video transmission, and (3) Validation, specification, and testing of the "Virtual Faraday Cage" concept.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project has two dimensions: First, it will demonstrate a new security concept in high performance physical layer communication systems and as such is expected to change the design, perception, and usage of classical wireless communication systems. The notion of a highly secure and reliable physical layer has the potential to significantly change how communication system designers and users think of the physical layer since the error control codes developed in this work will have the dual roles of both reliability and security. Second, the commercial potential foreseen for this project is large since manufacturers active in the broadband wireless systems arena do not have any physical layer security implementation in their current product offerings. Hence, these manufacturers will be highly interested to invest in and implement this novel technology in their products. This project's focus is centered on high-level security with implementable complexity and if successfully incorporated into a standards-dominated industry, a significant commercial impact is expected.
This NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project adds strong security to the physical layer of wireless communication systems, a layer in the protocol stack where currently little or no security is implemented. Despite existing security mechanisms that operate at higher layers of the communications protocols stack, the lack of any security measure at the physical layer poses a significant threat for both private and government run wireless networks. The focus of this project was to provide reliable and secure broadband wireless connectivity against passive eavesdroppers, where data privacy is tied to proximity to the data source. In this physical layer security approach, privacy is provided by powerful error correcting codes and preprocessing techniques (Whisper Codes) to deliver high reliability to the intended parties and high security against remote eavesdroppers. The intellectual merit of this project is in new approaches to physical layer communications, from both theoretical and practical perspectives. The notion of a highly secure and reliable physical layer will significantly change how people think of the physical layer since the error control codes developed in this work have the dual roles of providing both reliability and security. The outcomes of this project are: Development of Whisper Codes for 60 GHz wireless communications, Implementation of an uncompressed video platform with Whisper Codes to demonstrate secure wireless video, and Validation, specification, and testing of the high-risk/high-reward Virtual Faraday Cage concept. This Virtual Faraday Cage concept is high-risk because it has not been deployed in classical communication systems and it introduces information-theoretic security into system design. The high-reward nature is centered on high-level security with implementable complexity. To illustrate this novel concept, we depict a conventional wireless communications system in Figure 1, where significant information leakage occurs to adjacent rooms since no security measure is present at the physical layer. In this scenario, an eavesdropper located in one of the neighboring rooms (or just outside of the building) would have the opportunity to intercept physically transmitted data (bits) and ultimately gain access to the private communication content. In Figure 2, we illustrate the case when there is physical layer security implemented in the wireless transmission system with our proposed Whisper Codes. These codes are highly effective in the sense that they confine the information leakage to a very small (ring) area outside the reliable reception region. The small reliable reception area with the surrounding small information leakage area is what we call the Virtual Faraday Cage. Hence, a potential intruder located outside of this small area would be considered to be outside of the Virtual Faraday Cage and would have no information about the wireless transmission within this room. To create the Virtual Faraday Cage, Whisper Codes take advantage of the signal degradation (even if it is very slight) that results from the increased distance from the center of the cage. The broader impact of this project has two dimensions: First, it demonstrates a new security concept in high performance physical layer communication systems and as such is expected to change the design, perception, and usage of classical communication systems. Second, strong connections to the Georgia Institute of Technology and leading edge research will be integrated into advanced courses and training of graduate students. The commercial potential foreseen for this technology is also large since manufacturers active in the broadband wireless systems arena do not have any physical layer security implementation in their current product offerings and hence, they will be highly interested to invest in this technology once they see the proof-of-concept developed during this project. Furthermore, besides broadband wireless systems, wireless mobile-payment systems using near field communications (NFC) and also wireless home networks (i.e., 802.11 Wi-Fi) have been identified as ideal applications for this new physical layer security concept. Preliminary experiments carried out using physical layer security for NFC at 13.56 MHz are promising and hence, the commercialization potential of this novel technology for mobile-pay systems is very strong.
