Secure Massive MIMO Communication with Low-resolution DACs

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate secure transmission in a massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system adopting low-resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs). Artificial noise (AN) is deliberately transmitted simultaneously with the confidential signals to degrade the eavesdropper's channel quality. By applying the Bussgang theorem, a DAC quantization model is developed which facilitates the analysis of the asymptotic achievable secrecy rate. Interestingly, for a fixed power allocation factor $\varphi$, low-resolution DACs typically result in a secrecy rate loss, but in certain cases they provide superior performance, e.g., at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Specifically, we derive a closed-form SNR threshold which determines whether low-resolution or high-resolution DACs are preferable for improving the secrecy rate. Furthermore, a closed-form expression for the optimal $\varphi$ is derived. With AN generated in the null-space of the user channel and the optimal $\varphi$, low-resolution DACs inevitably cause secrecy rate loss. On the other hand, for random AN with the optimal $\varphi$, the secrecy rate is hardly affected by the DAC resolution because the negative impact of the quantization noise can be compensated for by reducing the AN power. All the derived analytical results are verified by numerical simulations.

14 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Massive MIMO for Next Generation Wireless Systems
• Principles of Physical Layer Security in Multiuser Wireless Networks: A Survey
• A Coordinated Approach to Channel Estimation in Large-scale Multiple-antenna Systems
• Secure Transmission with Multiple Antennas II: The MIMOME Wiretap Channel
• Pilot Beam Pattern Design for Channel Estimation in Massive MIMO Systems
• Linear Precoding of Data and Artificial Noise in Secure Massive MIMO Systems
• Physical Layer Security in Downlink Multi-Antenna Cellular Networks
• MMSE precoder for massive MIMO using 1-bit quantization
• Optimal Multiuser Loading in Quantized Massive MIMO under Spatially Correlated Channels

Cited by in corpus (4)

• A Survey on Security Issues of 5G NR: Perspective of Artificial Dust and Artificial Rain
• Downlink Secrecy Rate of One-Bit Massive MIMO System with Active Eavesdropping
• Secure Communication for Spatially Sparse Millimeter-Wave Massive MIMO Channels via Hybrid Precoding
• Cascaded Channel Estimation for IRS-assisted Mmwave Multi-antenna with Quantized Beamforming