TY - GEN
T1 - On the continuity of the secrecy capacity of wiretap channels under channel uncertainty
AU - Boche, Holger
AU - Schaefer, Rafael F.
AU - Poor, H. Vincent
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 IEEE.
PY - 2015/9/9
Y1 - 2015/9/9
N2 - The performance of a secure communication system such as the wiretap channel is usually characterized by its secrecy capacity. In this paper, the issue of whether or not the secrecy capacity is a continuous function of the system parameters is examined. In particular, this is done for channel uncertainty modeled via compound channels and arbitrarily varying channels, in which the legitimate users know only that the true channel realization is from a pre-specified uncertainty set. In the former model, this realization remains constant for the entire duration of transmission, while in the latter the realization varies from channel use to channel use in an unknown and arbitrary manner. The secrecy capacity of the compound wiretap channel is shown to be robust in the sense that it is a continuous function of the uncertainty set. Thus, small variations in the uncertainty set lead to small variations in secrecy capacity. However, the secrecy capacity of the arbitrarily varying wiretap channel is shown to be discontinuous in the uncertainty set meaning that small variations can lead to dramatic losses in capacity.
AB - The performance of a secure communication system such as the wiretap channel is usually characterized by its secrecy capacity. In this paper, the issue of whether or not the secrecy capacity is a continuous function of the system parameters is examined. In particular, this is done for channel uncertainty modeled via compound channels and arbitrarily varying channels, in which the legitimate users know only that the true channel realization is from a pre-specified uncertainty set. In the former model, this realization remains constant for the entire duration of transmission, while in the latter the realization varies from channel use to channel use in an unknown and arbitrary manner. The secrecy capacity of the compound wiretap channel is shown to be robust in the sense that it is a continuous function of the uncertainty set. Thus, small variations in the uncertainty set lead to small variations in secrecy capacity. However, the secrecy capacity of the arbitrarily varying wiretap channel is shown to be discontinuous in the uncertainty set meaning that small variations can lead to dramatic losses in capacity.
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U2 - 10.1109/ICC.2015.7248976
DO - 10.1109/ICC.2015.7248976
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84953710314
T3 - IEEE International Conference on Communications
SP - 4163
EP - 4168
BT - 2015 IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC 2015
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC 2015
Y2 - 8 June 2015 through 12 June 2015
ER -