Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a contactless, automatic identification wireless technology primarily used for identifying and tracking of objects, goods and humans. RFID is not only limited to identification and tracking applications. This proliferating wireless technology has been deployed in numerous securities sensitive applications e.g. access control, e-passports, contactless payments, driver license, transport ticking and health cards. RFID inherits all the security and privacy problems that are related to wireless technology and in addition to those that are specific to RFID systems. The security and privacy protection schemes proposed in literature for wireless devices are mostly secured through symmetric/asymmetric keys encryption/decryption and hash functions. The security of all these cryptographic algorithms depends on computationally complex problems that are hard to compute using available resources. However, these algorithms require cryptographic operations on RFID tags which contradict the low cost demand of RFID tags. Due to limited number of logic gates in tags, i.e., 5K-10K, these methods are not practical. Much research effort has done in attempt to solve consumer's privacy and security problem. Solutions that prevent clandestine inventory are mostly application layer techniques. To solve this problem, a new RFID physical layer scheme has been proposed namely Direct Sequence Backscatter Encryption (DSB Enc). The proposed scheme uses level generator to produce different levels before transmitting the signal to the tag. The tag response to the signal sent by the reader using backscatter communications on the same signal which looks random to the eavesdropper. Therefore eavesdropper cannot extract the information from reader to tag and tag to reader communication using passive eavesdropping. As reader knows the different generated levels added to the carrier signal, it can remove the levels and retrieve the tag's messages. We proposed a lightweight, low-cost and practically secure physical layer security to the RFID system, for a supply chain processing application, without increasing the computational power and tag's cost. The proposed scheme was validated by simulations on GNU Radio and experimentation using SDR and a WISP tag. Our implementation and experimental results validate that DSB Enc is secure against passive eavesdropping, replay and relay attacks. It provides better results in the presence of AWGN channel.

As wireless networks continue to flourish worldwide and play an increasingly prominent role, it has become crucial to provide effective solutions to the inherent security issues associated with a wireless transmission medium. Unlike traditional solutions, which usually handle security at the application layer, the primary concern of this thesis is to analyze and develop solutions based on coding techniques at the physical layer. First, an information-theoretically secure communication protocol for quasi-static fading channels was developed and its performance with respect to theoretical limits was analyzed. A key element of the protocol is a reconciliation scheme for secret-key agreement based on low-density parity-check codes, which is specifically designed to operate on non-binary random variables and offers high reconciliation efficiency. Second, the fundamental trade-offs between cooperation and security were analyzed by investigating the transmission of confidential messages to cooperative relays. This information-theoretic study highlighted the importance of jamming as a means to increase secrecy and confirmed the importance of carefully chosen relaying strategies. Third, other applications of physical-layer security were investigated. Specifically, the use of secret-key agreement techniques for alternative cryptographic purposes was analyzed, and a framework for the design of practical information-theoretic commitment protocols over noisy channels was proposed. Finally, the benefit of using physical-layer coding techniques beyond the physical layer was illustrated by studying security issues in client-server networks. A coding scheme exploiting packet losses at the network layer was proposed to ensure reliable communication between clients and servers and security against colluding attackers.

abstract: There are many wireless communication and networking applications that require high transmission rates and reliability with only limited resources in terms of bandwidth, power, hardware complexity etc.. Real-time video streaming, gaming and social networking are a few such examples. Over the years many problems have been addressed towards the goal of enabling such applications; however, significant challenges still remain, particularly, in the context of multi-user communications. With the motivation of addressing some of these challenges, the main focus of this dissertation is the design and analysis of capacity approaching coding schemes for several (wireless) multi-user communication scenarios. Specifically, three main themes are studied: superposition coding over broadcast channels, practical coding for binary-input binary-output broadcast channels, and signalling schemes for two-way relay channels. As the first contribution, we propose an analytical tool that allows for reliable comparison of different practical codes and decoding strategies over degraded broadcast channels, even for very low error rates for which simulations are impractical. The second contribution deals with binary-input binary-output degraded broadcast channels, for which an optimal encoding scheme that achieves the capacity boundary is found, and a practical coding scheme is given by concatenation of an outer low density parity check code and an inner (non-linear) mapper that induces desired distribution of "one" in a codeword. The third contribution considers two-way relay channels where the information exchange between two nodes takes place in two transmission phases using a coding scheme called physical-layer network coding. At the relay, a near optimal decoding strategy is derived using a list decoding algorithm, and an approximation is obtained by a joint decoding approach. For the latter scheme, an analytical approximation of the word error rate based on a union bounding technique is computed under the assumption that linear codes are employed at the two nodes exchanging data. Further, when the wireless channel is frequency selective, two decoding strategies at the relay are developed, namely, a near optimal decoding scheme implemented using list decoding, and a reduced complexity detection/decoding scheme utilizing a linear minimum mean squared error based detector followed by a network coded sequence decoder. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Electrical Engineering 2011

Support of many different services, approximately 1000x increase of current data rates, ultra-reliability, low latency and energy/cost efficiency are among the demands from upcoming 5G standard. In order to meet them, researchers investigate various potential technologies involving different network layers and discuss their trade-offs for possible 5G scenarios. Waveform design is a critical part of these efforts and various alternatives have been heavily discussed over the last few years. Besides that, wireless technology is expected to be deployed in many critical applications including the ones involving with daily life activities, health-care and vehicular traffic. Therefore, security of wireless systems is also crucial for a reliable and confidential deployment. In order to achieve these goals in future wireless systems, physical layer (PHY) algorithms play a vital role not only in waveform design but also for improving security. In this dissertation, we draft the ongoing activities in PHY in terms of waveform design and security for providing spectrally efficient and reliable services considering various scenarios, and present our algorithms in this direction. Regarding the waveform design, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is mostly considered as the base scheme since it is the dominant technology in many existing standards and is also considered for 5G new radio. We specifically propose two approaches for the improvement of OFDM in terms of out-of-band emission and peak to average power ratio. We also present how the requirements of different 5G RAN scenarios reflect on waveform parameters and explore the motivations behind designing advanced frames that include multiple waveforms with different parameters, referred to as numerologies by the 3GPP community, as well as the problems that arise with such coexistence. On the security aspect, we firstly consider broadband communication scenarios and propose practical security approaches that suppress the cyclic features of OFDM and single carrier-frequency domain equalization based waveforms and remove their vulnerability to the eavesdropping attacks. Additionally, an authentication mechanism in PHY is presented for wireless implantable medical devices. Thus, we address the security issues for two critical wireless communication scenarios in PHY to contribute a confidential and reliable deployment of wireless technologies in the near future.

Abstract In this thesis we study Full-Duplex (FD) cooperative networks from different perspectives, using concepts of information theory, communication theory and applied statistics. We provide a comprehensive performance analysis of cooperative communications systems operating with FD relays. We demonstrate that FD relaying is feasible even when experiencing strong self-interference, and we show its application under different scenarios. More importantly, the results attained through this work serve as a benchmark for design as well as deployment of current and future wireless communications technologies. Our first contribution is a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art on FD communications, more specifically on FD relaying, and we revisit some of the main properties of cooperative schemes. Another contribution comes from an extensive analysis of outage probability, throughput and energy efficiency of FD relaying over Rayleigh fading channels. Besides the mathematical framework introduced herein, we also show that in some cases cooperative Half-Duplex (HD) schemes achieve better performance than FD relaying with self-interference. Therefore, we draw a discussion on the trade-offs between HD and FD schemes as well as between throughput and energy efficiency. Then, we investigate the performance of FD relaying protocols under general fading settings, namely Nakagami-m fading. Our findings allow a better understanding of effects of the residual self-interference and line-of-sight on a FD relaying setup. Our final contribution lies on the performance analysis of secure cooperative networks relying on information theoretical metrics to provide enhanced privacy and confidentiality to wireless networks. Thus, we provide a comprehensive mathematical framework for composite fading channels. Even though experiencing strong self-interference, we demonstrate that FD relaying is feasible also under secrecy constraints, thus perfect secrecy can be achieved. / Tiivistelmä Tässä työssä tutkitaan kaksisuuntaisia (Full-Duplex, FD) yhteistoiminnallisia verkkoja informaatioteorian, tietoliikenneteorian ja sovelletun tilastotieteen näkökulmista. Työssä suoritetaan kattava suorityskykyarviointi yhteistoiminnallisten FD-välittimien muodostamassa tietoliikenneverkossa. FD-releointi osoitetaan toimintakelpoiseksi useissa toimintaympäristöissä ja sovelluksissa jopa voimakkaan omahäiriön vallitessa. Mikä tärkeintä, työssä saavutetut tulokset muodostavat vertailukohdan sekä nykyisten että tulevien langattomien verkkoteknologioiden suunnitteluun ja toteutukseen. Aluksi esitetään perusteellinen katsaus uusimpiin FD-tiedonsiirtomenetelmiin, etenkin FD-välitykseen, sekä kerrataan yhteistoiminnallisten tekniikoiden pääpiirteet. Seuraavaksi analysoidaan laajasti FD-välitinyhteyden luotettavuutta sekä spektrinkäyttö- ja energiatehokkuutta Rayleigh-häipyvissä radiokanavissa. Matemaattisen viitekehyksen lisäksi osoitetaan myös, että joissain tapauksissa yhteistoiminnalliset vuorosuuntaiset (Half-Duplex, HD) menetelmät ovat parempia kuin FD-releointi omahäiriön vallitessa. Niinpä työssä käydään keskustelua kaupankäynnistä HD- ja FD -menetelmien kesken kuten myös spektrinkäyttö- ja energiatehokkuuden kesken. Seuraavaksi tutkitaan FD-releoinnin suorityskykyä yleistetymmässä häipymäympäristössä eli Nakagami-m -kanavassa. Saavutetut tulokset auttavat ymmärtämään paremmin jäljelle jäävän omahäiriön ja näköyhteyslinkkien vuorovaikutussuhteet FD-välitinjärjestelmän suunnittelussa. Lopuksi käsitellään tietoturvattuja yhteistoiminnallisia verkkoja informaatioteoreettisin mittarein, joilla pyritään tarjoamaan langattomien verkkojen käyttäjille parempaa yksityisyyden suojaa ja luottamuksellisuutta. Tätä varten työssä esitetään perusteelliset matemaattiset puitteet yhdistettyjen häipyvien kanavien tutkimiseen. Tuloksena osoitetaan, että myös salassapitokriteerien kannalta on mahdollista käyttää voimakkaan omahäiriön kokemaa FD-releointia vahvan salauksen saavuttamiseen.

Abstract The value of wearable market is booming, especially in the healthcare application segment. This segment is driven by an increasing need for regular monitoring and early diagnosis of patients with growing prevalence of chronic diseases. Wireless communications worn in the close proximity of the body, the variety of applications, and their requirements set design considerations and challenges. In addition to the technical requirements, coexistence with adjacent wireless body area networks (WBANs) and other wireless systems need to be taken into account. A WBAN system needs to be highly reliable, low power, fast, and interference-immune. This thesis studies the performance of two different PHY layer implementations in interfered fading channels. The systems are the frequency modulated ultra wideband (FM-UWB), defined in the IEEE 802.15.6 standard, and narrowband SmartBAN physical layer. The performance of the systems was analyzed by using software simulators developed in Matlab. The author developed the SmartBAN simulator for the ETSI Technical Committee (TC) SmartBAN to study the performance of the new SmartBAN system. This is the first physical layer performance study of the SmartBAN system. In addition, the open literature does not offer similar results on the FM-UWB as presented in this thesis. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the FM-UWB is performing well in situations where high reliability and high interference tolerance is needed. In addition, the simplicity of the FM-UWB transceiver makes it more suitable than the direct sequence UWB (DS-UWB) for applications with data rates of hundreds of kbps. SmartBAN has the best performance in cases where more relaxed requirements for reliability and interference tolerance can be applied. Nevertheless, it became obvious that both systems need proper coexistence and interference mitigation mechanisms to ensure reliability in all scenarios. / Tiivistelmä Puettavien laitteiden markkina-arvo on voimakkaassa kasvussa erityisesti terveydenhuollon sovellusalueella. Tämän sovellusalueen kiihdyttimenä toimii yhä suurempi tarve potilaiden kunnon jatkuvalle tarkkailulle sekä kroonisille taudeille alttiimpien potilaiden varhaiselle diagnosoinnille. Langattoman kehoverkon (WBAN) suunnittelun suurimpia haasteita ovat langaton tiedonsiirto kehon läheisyydessä, erilaiset sovellustyypit sekä niiden vaatimukset. Teknisten vaatimusten lisäksi on myös huomioitava rinnakkaiset kehoverkot sekä muut langattomat järjestelmät. Kehoverkkojärjestelmän on oltava todella luotettava, matalatehoinen, nopea ja häiriösietoinen. Väitöskirjassa tutkitaan kahta kehoverkon fyysisen kerroksen toteutusta häipyvissä ja häirityissä kanavissa. Nämä toteutukset ovat IEEE 802.15.6 -standardissa määritelty taajuusmoduloitu ultralaajakaista (FM-UWB) sekä kapeakaistainen SmartBAN. Järjestelmien suorituskykyä analysoitiin Matlab-ohjelmistosimulaattoreiden avulla. Työssä kehitettiin SmartBAN-simulaattori ETSI Technical Committee (TC) SmartBAN -työryhmälle järjestelmän suorityskykytutkimukseen. Tässä työssä esitetään SmartBAN-järjestelmän fyysisen kerroksen suorituskykytulokset, jotka ovat ensimmäiset laatuaan. Lisäksi kirjallisuudesta ei löydy vastaavia tuloksia FM-UWB:n osalta, kuten tässä työssä on esitetty. Tuloksien pohjalta voidaan päätellä, että FM-UWB suoriutuu hyvin tilanteissa, joissa vaaditaan suurta luotettavuutta sekä suurta häiriönsietokykyä. Lisäksi yksinkertainen lähetin-vastaanotinrakenne tekee siitä kiinnostavamman vaihtoehdon kuin suorahajotettu UWB (DS-UWB) sovelluksille, jotka vaativat satojen kbps:n tiedonsiirtonopeutta. SmartBAN toimii hyvin tilanteissa, joissa näistä vaatimuksista voidaan hieman joustaa. Kuitenkin on selvää, että molemmat järjestelmät tarvitsevat sopivan rinnakkais- ja häiriönvaimennustekniikan taatakseen luotettavuuden kaikissa tapauksissa.

The first part of this thesis develops methods for UWB communication. To meet the stringent regulatory body constraints, the physical layer signaling technique of the UWB transceiver should be optimally designed. We propose two signaling schemes which are variants of pulse position modulation (PPM) signaling for impulse radio (IR) UWB communication. We also discuss the detectors for the signaling schemes and evaluate the performance of these detectors.  IR-UWB can be used for precise range measurements as it provides a very high time resolution. This enables accurate time of arrival (TOA) estimations from which precise range values can be derived. We propose methods which use range information to arrive at optimal schedules for an all-to-all broadcast problem. Results indicate that throughput can be increased on average by three to ten times for typical network configurations compared to the traditional methods. Next, we discuss hypothesis testing in the context of UWB transceivers. We show that, when multiple detector outputs from a hardware platform are available, fusing the results from them can yield better performance in hypothesis testing than relying on a single detector output. In the second part of this thesis, the emphasis is placed on localization and joint estimation of location and communication parameters. Here, we focus on estimating the TOA of the signal. The wide bandwidth of the UWB signal requires high speed analog to digital converts (ADC) which makes the cost of the digital transceivers prohibitively high. To address this problem, we take two different strategies. In the first approach, we propose a multichannel receiver with each channel having a low-cost energy detector operating at a sub-Nyquist rate. In the second approach, we consider a compressive sampling based technique. Here, we propose a new acquisition front end, using which the sampling rate of the ADC can be significantly reduced. We extended the idea of compressive sampling based TOA estimation towards joint estimation of TOA and PPM symbols. Here, two signaling methods along with the algorithms are proposed based on the dynamicity of the target. They provide similar performance to the ML based estimation, however with a significant savings in the ADC resources. / <p>QC 20161205</p>

Spread Spectrum Communication techniques have been widely used in mobile and wireless communications. They have very beneficial features like antijam and security (noise-like character, pseudorandom codes usage). At first, the features of Spread Spectrum systems are described with emphasis on the Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DS-SS) scheme. Main specifications of UMTS system are also introduced. The goal of this thesis was to create the model of a physical layer UMTS suitable for investigation of disturbing signals influences in Matlab Simulink. This model was used to measure how the Bit error rate (BER) is affected by the Processing gain and the Signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, two important charts which describe the relation of Bit error rate versus the Processing gain and the Signal-to-noise ratio have been plotted.

Master's thesis The Signal Processing in ZigBee System is focused on properties of Physical Layer of ZigBee (standard IEEE 802.15.4 - 2003). The work consists of three parts. The first part contains common view on using and properties of ZigBee. The next part focuses on the Medium Access Control Layer and in detail on the Physical Layer. There described signal processing in the Physical Layer in individual radio bands. The last part of the project contains the process of modeling in the MATLAB for both models of system ZigBee (bands 868/915 MHz and 2450 MHz). The last part of thesis deals with the simulations of BER depending on Carrier-to-Noise Ratio. Also examined the coexistence of systems operating in the same or a nearby frequency band. Based on the results of simulations there are given recommendations for the use of the ZigBee system in minimizing BER.

This diploma thesis deals with the implementation of standard IEEE 802.11ah into network simulator NS-3. The first part of the diploma thesis describes M2M communication for which the standard IEEE 802.11ah would be suitable. M2M communication is being more and more used in the society, that is why there is an effort to develop a new standard for this type of communication. The thesis contains a description of this standard based on technical specifications brought out by the Task Group ah (TGah). Some changes have been made in NS-3 for the purpose of this thesis in order to support this standard. In the next part there is a created scenario with basic topology in NS-3 with usage of standard IEEE 802.11ah, in which the functionality of the standard is tested. The result of this diploma thesis is a description of the changes which have been made and analysis of the output files from the simulation.