Date of Award

Spring 5-25-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Electrical Engineering

First Advisor

Chester Wilson

Abstract

A steadily growing portion of modern communication systems in use today is based on wireless technologies that make use of smaller and more portable electronic devices. As a result, the need to provide a light-weight security strategy for these systems is becoming a more important problem. This thesis focuses on two techniques that belong to an active research area known as Physical Layer Security (PLS). While the underlying techniques of PLS have been known for some time, the potential secrecy benefits of them need further investigation. These potential benefits have generated a rising interest with the development of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) multi-antenna systems. The first PLS technique considered in this thesis is that of beamforming which is made possible using MIMO. Here a sender can focus the information signal in the direction of the intended receiver while reducing the quality of the signal observed by a potential eavesdropper. In addition to beamforming, the technique of artificial noise (AN) is also investigated. AN requires the sender to generate a random noise signal in addition to the information signal to further degrade an eavesdropper’s ability to detect and decode the information signal being directed to the intended receiver. MATLAB simulations based on these PLS techniques are performed and the results presented.

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