Open AccessA survey on secret key generation mechanisms on the physical layer in wireless networks
Author(s) -
Shehadeh Youssef El Hajj,
Hogrefe Dieter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
security and communication networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1939-0122
pISSN - 1939-0114
DOI - 10.1002/sec.973
Subject(s) - computer science , key generation , physical layer , secrecy , wireless , key (lock) , computer network , wireless network , scalability , shared secret , channel (broadcasting) , computer security , telecommunications , encryption , database
Traditional security mechanisms are mainly based on the distribution of shared secret keys. Yet, this task is nontrivial in large wireless networks, because of mobility and scalability issues. Recently, it has been found that some properties of the physical layer of wireless communications can be leveraged for the purpose of secret key generation. In particular, the wireless channel has been investigated as a common source of secrecy to generate a shared secret key. We explore the most recent approaches in this area. Received signal strength indicator based key generation is firstly investigated. After that, we present some of the most recent approaches of key generation based on the channel impulse response. Moreover, we discuss some other physical layer methods. Thus, this paper provides a survey on the latest key generation mechanisms on the physical layer of wireless communications.Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.