Physical Layer Key Generation Scheme through Scrambling the Correlated Eavesdropping Channel

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the physical layer key generation scheme in most realistic scenarios where the correlation between the legitimate channel and the eavesdropping channel is considered. To degrade the correlation and improve the key generation capacity, a physical layer key generation scheme through scrambling the correlated eavesdropping channel is proposed. Firstly, the artificial noise is sent superimposed over pilots from the legitimate transmitter to confuse the eavesdropper. The artificial noise precoding matrix is randomly selected from decomposed unitary matrices orthogonal to the legitimate channel resulting in having no effect on legitimate channel. Then, the vector quantization algorithm and the winnow algorithm are respectively applied to quantize the channel characteristic and negotiate the generated random sequences to generate the final key. To further support the performance, we next present a power optimization scheme allocated to sending the artificial noise to maximize the generated key capacity under the total transmission power constraint. Finally, simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of our proposed scheme.