Network Coding and Security for Wireless Communications
Tyron Hoogwerf · The UNSW Canberra at ADFA Journal of Undergraduate Engineering Research · 2018
Network coding promises to improve networks that implement it, with increased performance metrics such as throughput, transmission efficiency and robustness. Due to its code and forward packet policy it also affords the potential for new opportunities of ensuring data confidentiality. This project aims to implement a security scheme for instantly decodable network coding (IDNC) that can be applied in a single hop wireless transmission scenario for endpoint user devices which have minimal computational resources and are operating in a time sensitive environment, where instant decoding of transmitted packets is essential. To date previous works have not attempted to address this problem, hence, this paper proposes a new IDNC model that encrypts uncoded packets in the insecure initial phase, using IDNC as a secret key sharing method and subsequently relying on the inherent security characteristics of the scheme during the packet recovery phase to secure coded packets before transmission is complete with endpoint users. The paper highlights that implementation of the secure form of IDNC, in the presence of an eavesdropper, preserves the efficiency advantages of IDNC whilst providing a measure of data confidentiality that is suited to specific use cases where computational resources are limited.