PHYLAWS · PHYsical LAyer Wireless Security

One of the weaknesses of wireless communications is the easy capture of the radiated signals by eavesdroppers, which enhances the risks of using these signals or acting on them by un-authorized persons. Given the prevalence of wireless technologies, their security and the reliability a person or an organization can have in the confidentiality of the exchanged information can be seen as a major economical and industrial challenge. Focusing on physical based security, the PHYLAWS project intends to address the improvement of the protection and confidentiality of information exchanged at physical interface through public wireless media by several means:· Identify the most promising security techniques operating at the physical layer level or exploiting the characteristics of signals transmitted at the physical layer. Identify the existing, upcoming of future systems, where these techniques might be implemented, without or with updates to the standards.· Carry out theoretical, simulation based and experimental performance evaluation of these techniques, taking into account realistic radio-electrical environments, relevant propagation parameters and use conditions. Develop the suitable algorithms where necessary.· Demonstrate the capabilities of a selection of techniques in enhancing the information protection and the subscriber confidentiality.· Demonstrate the capabilities of the selected techniques in reducing the redundancy of radio-communication signals, in enhancing the spectrum usage and the energy efficiency)The targeted protections will apply to a significant set of public wireless systems or standards: 2/3/4G radio-cell, local loop, private mobiles radios, inter-device short range communications, etc. The impact will be societal (more confidence, more privacy) and industrial (supporting European industry in developing and commercializing such solutions). The project should strongly influence the suitable standardization bodies, where needed and relevant.