Design of Secure Multi-User Coded-SSK With Index Selecting Capability

Abstract

We propose a new coded space shift keying (CSSK) signaling technique for multi-user (MU), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems incorporating physical layer security (PLS). Besides its error correction ability, the designed linear code is capable of choosing transmit antenna indices automatically and selecting the best set of antenna combinations that minimizes the bit error rate (BER). Results obtained for the single-user (SU) schemes are then extended to a general single-cell downlink MU CSSK setting. A precoder design is proposed with a maximum ratio combining (MRC) technique to eliminate the multi-user interference (MUI) entirely by taking advantage of channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter. It is shown that the same precoding provides a very effective jamming signal for the PLS against passive eavesdroppers, degrading their signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) severely. A closed-form expression for the achievable secrecy rates is derived and it is maximized by the proposed power allocation algorithm. Finally, it is shown analytically and by computer simulations that substantially better BER performance is achieved by each user over interference-free transmission compared to an SU transmission with a maximum likelihood (ML) detector.