ABSTRACT

New generations of wireless networks aim to provide responsive, ubiquitous service in a way that is reliable and secure. Currently underutilized parts of the spectrum, at very high frequencies, can provide massive bandwidth, and new possibilities for services that require high responsiveness, such as self-driving cars or augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR). Such services are, in addition, critical and sensitive, requiring thus high security. Traditional approaches to ensuring security exploit cryptographic approaches that can add non-negligible delay because of their complexity; some are even being steadily undermined by the fast progress of quantum computing. The existing security techniques that are post-quantum secure are even slower and more onerous, rendering them less attractive for delay-critical applications. This project addresses these challenges in an integrated way by making active and synergistic use of the characteristics of operating at very high frequencies and of recent mathematical developments in systems that remain secure under quantum computing attacks. The approach also offers low complexity and is therefore compatible with low-delay, highly responsive system requirements.

At high frequencies, the location of an eavesdropper deeply affects their ability to listen in on private communications when the appropriate hardware, namely antennas, are used. With the right antennas, a legitimate receiver can be given an edge, even a slight one, over the eavesdropper and that edge can be turned into a key advantage through mathematical transformations. The approach relies on mathematically pre-processing data in such a way that an eavesdropping intercepting part of the communication cannot recover the missing data, unless 100% of it is available, thus thwarting the effort. Furthermore, wireless communications are often subjected to noise and interference, ranging from a microwave oven to a neighboring user's activity. In order to combat those effects, the data encoding mechanism must be robust, while still maintaining security. Very new developments in techniques for combatting noise lend themselves well to work with the sort of security approaches to be developed in this project. The outcomes of this project will be high speed, low delay, cost-effective, energy efficient communications that can remain secure even to sophisticated, powerful attackers.

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.

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