Implementation of Two Physical Layer Security Techniques in an OTA System

Abstract

This paper discusses the design of two Physical Layer Security (PLS) techniques in GNU Radio. PLS is a classification of security methods that take advantage of physical properties in the waveform or channel to secure communication. These schemes can be used to directly obfuscate the signal from eavesdroppers, or even generate secret keys for traditional encryption methods. Over the past decade, advancements in Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) systems have expanded the potential capabilities of PLS while the development of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) has provided new applications. As a result, this field has become heavily researched, but is still lacking implementation. The design work covered here attempts to alleviate this issue by providing a platform for Over-The-Air (OTA) experimentation.