Defeating the Eavesdropper: On the Achievable Secrecy Capacity using Reconfigurable Antennas [article]

Ahmed M. Alaa
2014 arXiv   pre-print
In this paper, we consider the transmission of confidential messages over slow fading wireless channels in the presence of an eavesdropper. We propose a transmission scheme that employs a single reconfigurable antenna at each of the legitimate partners, whereas the eavesdropper uses a single conventional antenna. A reconfigurable antenna can switch its propagation characteristics over time and thus it perceives different fading channels. It is shown that without channel side information (CSI)
more » ... the legitimate partners, the main channel can be transformed into an ergodic regime offering a secrecy capacity gain for strict outage constraints. If the legitimate partners have partial or full channel side information (CSI), a sort of selection diversity can be applied boosting the maximum secret communication rate. In this case, fading acts as a friend not a foe.
arXiv:1402.0993v1 fatcat:tvvunyi5djdprfesiveff63ccy