SaTC: CORE: Small: Collaborative: Security Assurance in Short Range Communication with Wireless Channel Obfuscation

随着移动的计算技术和应用的普及，基于空中声/可见光信道的短距离通信正经历着快速的发展，具有低功耗和对等通信等优点，而不需要复杂的网络基础设施。虽然这些短距离无线信道具有针对许多恶意攻击的固有和物理保护，但是针对窃听的数据传输的机密性仍然是一个风险，从而激发了对短距离通信的安全性的相当大的兴趣。与依赖于中央安全管理基础设施来保护无线链路的传统加密方法不同，该项目提出通过结合随机信道动态来混淆传输的无线信号以防御窃听者。具体而言，基于特定的无线信道特性，不同的信道混淆方案被开发以实现相对于航空声学和可见光信道的信息理论保密。这项研究也将有助于研究生和本科生在无线安全方面的跨学科教育。这项建议旨在增强声学和可见光信道上的短距离无线通信的物理层安全。研究表明，不同类型的无线信道的独特特性可以被利用来执行信道混淆，以保护秘密免受窃听攻击。特别地，对于声学信道，本项目开发了依赖于合法接收器发出的自干扰信号的信道混淆方案，以确保短距离通信。此外，一种新的通信协议的基础上到达时间差调制，以实现准确和强大的数据传输。对于可见光通信，为屏幕到摄像机的信道开发了一种信道混淆方案，利用液晶显示器和发光二极管屏幕的色移特性实现安全的密钥分发。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As the prevalence of mobile computing technologies and applications, short-range communication over emerging aerial acoustic and visible light channel is undergoing a fast rate of expansion with many promising benefits including low power and peer-to-peer communication, without incurring complex network infrastructure. Although those short range wireless channels have an inherent and physical protection against many malicious attacks, the confidentiality of the data transmission against eavesdropping remains a risk, motivating considerable interest in the security of short range communication. Unlike traditional cryptographic methods that rely on central security management infrastructure to secure wireless links, this project proposes to obfuscate the transmitting wireless signals by incorporating random channel dynamics to defend against eavesdroppers. Specifically, based on specific wireless channel characteristics, different channel obfuscation schemes are to be developed to achieve information-theoretic secrecy with respect to aerial acoustic and visible light channels. The proposed research will also contribute to interdisciplinary education on wireless security for both graduate and undergraduate students.This proposal aims to enhance physical layer security for short range wireless communications over acoustic and visible light channels. The research reveals that the unique characteristics of different types of wireless channels can be exploited to perform channel obfuscation for protecting secrecy against eavesdropping attacks. Particularly, for acoustic channels, this project develops the channel obfuscation scheme relying on self-jamming signals emitted by the legitimate receiver to secure short-range communication. Moreover, a novel communication protocol based on time-difference-of-arrival modulation is introduced to achieve accurate and robust data transmission. For visible light communication, a channel obfuscation scheme is developed for screen-to-camera channels to realize a secure secret key distribution leveraging the color shift property of Liquid Crystal Display and Light-Emitting Diode screens.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.