Cognitive Adaptation of Communications Systems and Networks for Situation-Aware Wireless Security Enhancement

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With the ubiquitous deployment of broadband communications infrastructure and services, wireless communications is facing many emerging challenges including prominently the issue of wireless security. The unique security challenge of wireless communications is due mainly to the open and broadcast nature of radio signal propagation. While most of the wireless security risks are from the open air interface, conventional wireless security mechanisms, typically deployed at the higher layers of communications network protocol, are inadequate in addressing the specific vulnerability of radio propagation environment at physical layer. Furthermore, lacking of situational-aware security risk assessment and adaptation in security provisioning solutions in highly standardized wireless networks introduce additional security risks. As a result, these combined factors inevitably lead to vulnerable wireless technologies and infrastructures with widespread security weaknesses due to the ineffective security mechanisms. The primary goal of the proposed NSERC Discovery Grant program is to develop transformative wireless security technologies through exploration of adaptive physical layer security enhancement, cognitive security risk evaluation, and situation-aware optimization and deployment of wireless security strategies. To achieve this goal, various cognitive adaptation and cooperation capabilities of wireless systems and networks, as well as situation-aware utilization of inherent dynamics and attributes of wireless systems networks, will be explored in the proposed research and training. The broader impacts of proposed NSERC Discovery Grant program include: a) it will bridge the gap between existing communications technologies and increasing wireless security needs; b) it will develop an unified approach that effectively tackles wireless security and communications performance; c) the proposed research will be timely integrated with training of highly qualified personnel (HQP) and industrial collaborations, thus maximize the impact of the NSERC Discovery program via technology innovation and knowledge transfer.