EAGER: SARE: Collaborative: Low Energy Secure Wireless Transceivers for IoT Trusted Communications

低能耗无线通信作为维护网络中用户之间连接的首选方法正在获得广泛应用。在无线通信链路中建立安全和信任对于维护用户的安全和隐私至关重要。创建安全可靠的数据通信链路的现有解决方案主要侧重于在后端执行复杂的能源密集型数字编码。这种方法虽然有效，但本质上与无线链路的低能量特性不一致。该项目旨在通过开发可在RF前端实现的低能量射频（RF）和模拟安全功能来解决这一挑战。从这项研究中获得的新知识将为低功耗、低延迟可信无线通信奠定基础。除了消费电子产品，低能耗安全无线电收发器的成功开发将对各种应用和行业产生深远的影响，在这些应用和行业中，安全可靠地访问电磁频谱至关重要。除了技术影响外，该项目还广泛地造福于社会。通过物联网（IoT）连接的低能耗设备带来急需的低成本安全性，本研究将对改善日益在日常生活中使用这些设备的社会经济弱势群体的生活和隐私产生深远的积极影响。该项目的目标是通过采用射频和模拟域的安全特性，消除对高能耗的实时数字后端加密的需要，为低能耗、低延迟的安全可靠的无线通信收发器创建一个新的框架。该研究利用了许多低能耗无线连接应用的实时性，在数字后端进行高能耗的逐位数字加密，在RF前端实现低能耗RF和模拟安全功能。通过在模拟域中混淆调制波形，设想了一种安全的无线链路。一旦建立了安全的无线链路/通道，就可以使用唯一的设备属性在模拟域中应用设备认证。这个项目的智力优势涉及安全性和身份验证两个重要领域。(i)该研究提供了一个整体的系统和电路级方法，该方法使用射频/模拟技术来创建低能量、低延迟的可信无线通信链路，对数字后端的依赖最小。（ii）它创建了一个两步射频/模拟混淆和加密系统，将信道安全性与设备认证相结合，以创建模拟启发的端到端安全无线通信链路。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Low-energy wireless communication is gaining currency as the preferred method to maintain connectivity between users in a network. Establishing the security and trust in the wireless communication link is vital to maintaining the security and privacy of users. Existing solutions to create a secure and trustworthy data communication link have primarily focused on complicated energy-intensive digital encoding performed in the backend. While effective, this approach is inherently inconsistent with the low-energy nature of the wireless link. This project aims to address this challenge by developing low-energy radio frequency (RF) and analog security features that can be implemented in the RF front-end. The new knowledge gained from this research will form the foundation for low-power low-latency trusted wireless communications. Besides consumer electronics, the successful development of low-energy secure radio transceivers will have profound impact on various applications and industries, where secure and trusted access to the electromagnetic spectrum is paramount. In addition to the technical impact, the project broadly benefits the society. By bringing much-needed low-cost security to low-energy devices connected through the internet of things (IoT), this research will have a far-reaching positive impact in enhancing the lives and privacy of people from disadvantageous social economic groups who increasingly use these devices in their daily life.The objective of this project is to create a new framework for low-energy low-latency secure and trustworthy wireless communication transceivers by employing security features in the RF and analog domain that obviate the need for energy-hungry real-time digital backend encryption. The research takes advantage of the real-time nature of many low-energy wireless connectivity applications to trade off energy-heavy bit-by-bit digital encryption done in the digital backend with low-energy RF and analog security features implemented in the RF front-end. By obfuscating the modulated waveform in the analog domain, a secure wireless link is envisaged. Once a secure wireless link/channel is established, device authentication is applied in the analog domain using unique device attributes. The intellectual merits of this project involve two important areas of security and authentication. (i) The research offers a holistic system- and circuit-level approach that uses RF/analog techniques to create low-energy low-latency trusted wireless communication links with minimal dependence on the digital backend. (ii) It creates a two-step RF/analog obfuscation and encryption system that combines the channel security with device authentication to create an analog-inspired end-to-end secure wireless communication link.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.