Physical Layer Security in RIS-Assisted SIMO Wireless Networks over Rician-K Fading Channels

Despite the capacity of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) to create an intelligent propagation environment through the optimization of electromagnetic wave management, ensuring the security of data transmission amid fading challenges remains a substantial obstacle. To confront this issue, we investigate the physical layer security (PLS) of a RIS-empowered wireless network with antenna diversity over Rician fading channels (RFCs). We derive closed-form analytical expressions for the secure outage probability (SOP) and the probability of nonzero secrecy capacity (PNSC) using Meijer-G functions. These expressions provide insights into the impact of key system parameters, including fading conditions, the number of RIS elements, and antenna diversity at both the receiver and eavesdropper, on overall security performance. The results demonstrate that increasing the number of RIS reflecting elements and receiver antennas significantly enhances secrecy performance. Finally, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations validate the accuracy of the analytical findings.