A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting Surface
As wireless communication scenarios grow more complicated, security issues are becoming increasingly prominent and severe. In the Internet of Things and vehicle-to-everything scenarios, conventional cryptographic technology faces numerous challenges. These include difficulties in secret key distribu...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Electronics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/13/2/258 |
| _version_ | 1797344241410637824 |
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| author | Enjun Xia Bin-Jie Hu Qiaoqiao Shen |
| author_facet | Enjun Xia Bin-Jie Hu Qiaoqiao Shen |
| author_sort | Enjun Xia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As wireless communication scenarios grow more complicated, security issues are becoming increasingly prominent and severe. In the Internet of Things and vehicle-to-everything scenarios, conventional cryptographic technology faces numerous challenges. These include difficulties in secret key distribution and management, low update rates of secret keys, and vulnerability to quantum attacks. Physical layer secret key generation is considered a promising solution to security issues. The perfect secrecy proposed by Shannon can be achieved by combining secret key generation and the one-time pad when the length of secret keys is equal to that of plaintext. Hence, it is important to increase secret key generation rates. Intelligent reflecting surfaces demonstrate great advantages in improving the secret key generation performance. This paper provides a comprehensive review of current research efforts related to secret key generation assisted by intelligent reflecting surfaces, which is divided into three main categories: introducing the randomness of intelligent reflecting surfaces, optimizing the reflecting coefficients, and designing probing protocols. Comparative results of existing optimization approaches are provided and discussed. Furthermore, we emphasize the significance of selecting a random source of secret key generation from the perspective of information theory. Finally, two significant application scenarios, the Industrial Internet of Things and vehicle-to-everything, are discussed, and some challenges and opportunities are presented. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:59:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c27521b904ae4e24a529ad20dcf89792 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:59:31Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronics |
| spelling | doaj.art-c27521b904ae4e24a529ad20dcf897922024-01-26T16:12:02ZengMDPI AGElectronics2079-92922024-01-0113225810.3390/electronics13020258A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting SurfaceEnjun Xia0Bin-Jie Hu1Qiaoqiao Shen2School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, ChinaSchool of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, ChinaSchool of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, ChinaAs wireless communication scenarios grow more complicated, security issues are becoming increasingly prominent and severe. In the Internet of Things and vehicle-to-everything scenarios, conventional cryptographic technology faces numerous challenges. These include difficulties in secret key distribution and management, low update rates of secret keys, and vulnerability to quantum attacks. Physical layer secret key generation is considered a promising solution to security issues. The perfect secrecy proposed by Shannon can be achieved by combining secret key generation and the one-time pad when the length of secret keys is equal to that of plaintext. Hence, it is important to increase secret key generation rates. Intelligent reflecting surfaces demonstrate great advantages in improving the secret key generation performance. This paper provides a comprehensive review of current research efforts related to secret key generation assisted by intelligent reflecting surfaces, which is divided into three main categories: introducing the randomness of intelligent reflecting surfaces, optimizing the reflecting coefficients, and designing probing protocols. Comparative results of existing optimization approaches are provided and discussed. Furthermore, we emphasize the significance of selecting a random source of secret key generation from the perspective of information theory. Finally, two significant application scenarios, the Industrial Internet of Things and vehicle-to-everything, are discussed, and some challenges and opportunities are presented.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/13/2/258physical layer secret key generationintelligent reflecting surfacesoptimizationcommunication security |
| spellingShingle | Enjun Xia Bin-Jie Hu Qiaoqiao Shen A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting Surface Electronics physical layer secret key generation intelligent reflecting surfaces optimization communication security |
| title | A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting Surface |
| title_full | A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting Surface |
| title_fullStr | A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting Surface |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting Surface |
| title_short | A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting Surface |
| title_sort | survey of physical layer secret key generation enhanced by intelligent reflecting surface |
| topic | physical layer secret key generation intelligent reflecting surfaces optimization communication security |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/13/2/258 |
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