Enhancing Secrecy With Multiantenna Transmission in Millimeter Wave Vehicular Communication Systems

Millimeter wave (mmWave) vehicular communication systems will provide an abundance of bandwidth for the exchange of raw sensor data and support driver-assisted and safety-related functionalities. Lack of secure communication links, however, may lead to abuses and attacks that jeopardize the efficiency of transportation systems and the physical safety of drivers. In this paper, we propose two physical layer (PHY) security techniques for vehicular mmWave communication systems. The first technique uses multiple antennas with a single radio-frequency (RF) chain to transmit information symbols to a target receiver and noise-like signals in nonreceiver directions. The second technique uses multiple antennas with a few RF chains to transmit information symbols to a target receiver and opportunistically inject artificial noise in controlled directions, thereby reducing interference in vehicular environments. Theoretical and numerical results show that the proposed techniques provide higher secrecy rate when compared to traditional PHY security techniques that require digital or more complex antenna architectures.