Spatial Constellation Design Based Generalized Space Shift Keying for Physical Layer Security of Multi-User MIMO Communication Systems

Abstract

We propose a novel spatial constellation design (SCD) method with generalized space shift keying (GSSK-SCD) signaling for physical layer security (PLS) in multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems. In GSSK-SCD, the received spatial constellations are optimized through a novel precoding scheme, which minimizes the BERs at legitimate users and significantly worsens eavesdroppers’ BER. In addition to extensive BER simulations, we also provide analytical expressions for the secrecy rate regions for the proposed GSSK-SCD. Both analytical derivations and simulation results, including comparisons with artificial noise aided conventional GSSK, reveal that the GSSK-SCD approach provides significant PLS improvements for MU-MIMO systems.