Survey on Physical Layer Security in Downlink Networks

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss physical layer security techniques in downlink networks, including eavesdroppers. The main objective of using physical layer security is delivering a perfectly secure message from a transmitter to an intended receiver in the presence of passive or active eavesdroppers who are trying to wiretap the information or disturb the network stability. In downlink networks, based on the random feature of channels to terminals, opportunistic user scheduling can be exploited as an additional tool for enhancing physical layer security. We introduce user scheduling strategies and discuss the corresponding performances according to different levels of channel state information (CSI) at the base station (BS). We show that the availability of CSI of eavesdroppers significantly affects not only the beamforming strategy but also the user scheduling. Eventually, we provide intuitive information on the effect of CSI on the secrecy performance by considering three scenarios: perfect, imperfect, and absence of eavesdropper’s CSI at the BS.