Physical Layer Encryption using a Vernam Cipher
This addresses the need for physical layer encryption to protect network information from eavesdroppers, though it appears incremental as it builds on existing Vernam cipher concepts.
The paper tackles the problem of securing network information exposed at the physical layer by proposing the Vernam Physical Signal Cipher (VPSC), which encrypts analog waveforms by applying a modified Vernam cipher to frequency magnitudes and phases, and evaluates it over a noisy wireless channel with multi-path interference.
Secure communication is a necessity. However, encryption is commonly only applied to the upper layers of the protocol stack. This exposes network information to eavesdroppers, including the channel's type, data rate, protocol, and routing information. This may be solved by encrypting the physical layer, thereby securing all subsequent layers. In order for this method to be practical, the encryption must be quick, preserve bandwidth, and must also deal with the issues of noise mitigation and synchronization. In this paper, we present the Vernam Physical Signal Cipher (VPSC): a novel cipher which can encrypt the harmonic composition of any analog waveform. The VPSC accomplished this by applying a modified Vernam cipher to the signal's frequency magnitudes and phases. This approach is fast and preserves the signal's bandwidth. In the paper, we offer methods for noise mitigation and synchronization, and evaluate the VPSC over a noisy wireless channel with multi-path propagation interference.