Secure multiple-input single-output communication - Part II: δ-secrecy symbol error probability and secrecy diversity

Abstract

The authors consider secure beamforming with artificial noise in a multiple-input single-output multiple-eavesdropper (MISOME) wiretap channel, where a transmitter has access to full channel state information (CSI) of a legitimate channel but only partial CSI of eavesdropper channels. In the second part of this study, the authors first put forth a new notion of symbol error probability (SEP) for confidential information - called the 'δ-secrecy SEP' - to connect the reliability and confidentiality of the legitimate communication in MISOME wiretap channels. For single-antenna colluding and non-colluding eavesdroppers, the authors then quantify the diversity impact of secure beamforming with artificial noise on the δ-secrecy SEP and show that the artificial -noise strategy with nt transmit antennas preserves the secrecy diversity of order nt - ne for ne colluding eavesdroppers and nt - 1 for ne non-colluding eavesdroppers, respectively. In addition, the authors determine the optimal power allocation between the information-bearing signal and artificial noise to minimise the δ-secrecy SEP in the presence of weak or strong eavesdroppers, and further develop the switched power allocation for general eavesdropping attacks. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014.