Secure Array Synthesis in Multipath Channels

While conventional antenna array synthesis determines the beamforming weights that create a specified antenna radiation pattern, secure array synthesis formulates the beamforming weights that enhance security for wireless transmission of sensitive data. This paper focuses on creating beamformers that improve the generation of secret encryption keys based on bidirectional estimation of the reciprocal electromagnetic propagation channel between two radios. The technique uses semidefinite programming to determine the array weights that maximize the average secure key rate under a constraint on the total transmit power. The numerical implementation of the technique incorporates array mutual coupling, and the results demonstrate that the technique outperforms a conventional beamforming solution, with the improvement becoming significant for certain channel correlation conditions.