Robust Channel-Phase-Based Physical-Layer Authentication for Multicarriers Transmission

This article focuses on the serious threat to security of key-based physical-layer authentication (PLA) by an eavesdropper using an elaborate impersonation attack, which aims to pass the authentication process illegally. To prevent the eavesdropper from decreasing the authentication performance, we propose a robust channel-phase-based PLA scheme for multicarriers transmission, which contains a novel two-level decision. Specifically, the first level decision is used to protect legitimate users from high-receiver power caused by the elaborate attack of the eavesdropper, and the second one is used to further authenticate the user. The optimal threshold for accurately detecting the response signal with high-receiver power is derived. Moreover, we provide the theoretical performance analysis for the proposed scheme, and derive the closed-form expressions of the probability of detection and false alarm via the numerical statistic and the proper approximation. Simulation results show the robustness of our proposed scheme and verify the effectiveness of the theoretical analysis.