Open Access

ARTICLE

Physical Layer Security of 6G Vehicular Networks with UAV Systems: First Order Secrecy Metrics, Optimization, and Bounds

Sagar Kavaiya¹, Hiren Mewada^2,*, Sagarkumar Patel³, Dharmendra Chauhan³, Faris A. Almalki⁴, Hana Mohammed Mujlid⁴

1 Smt. Chandaben Mohanbhai Patel Institute of Computer Applications, Charotar University of Science and Technology, Changa, Anand, 388421, India
2 Electrical Engineering Department, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahad University, P.O. Box 1664, Al Khobar, 31952, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
3 Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Chandubhai S. Patel Institute of Technology, Charotar University of Science and Technology, Changa, Anand, 388421, India
4 Department of Computer Engineering, College of Computers and Information Technology, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif, 21944, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

* Corresponding Author: Hiren Mewada. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advanced Communication and Networking Technologies for Internet of Things and Internet of Vehicles)

Computers, Materials & Continua 2024, 80(3), 3685-3711. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2024.053587

Received 05 May 2024; Accepted 29 July 2024; Issue published 12 September 2024

Abstract

The mobility and connective capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are becoming more and more important in defense, commercial, and research domains. However, their open communication makes UAVs susceptible to undesirable passive attacks such as eavesdropping or jamming. Recently, the inefficiency of traditional cryptography-based techniques has led to the addition of Physical Layer Security (PLS). This study focuses on the advanced PLS method for passive eavesdropping in UAV-aided vehicular environments, proposing a solution to complement the conventional cryptography approach. Initially, we present a performance analysis of first-order secrecy metrics in 6G-enabled UAV systems, namely hybrid outage probability (HOP) and secrecy outage probability (SOP) over 2 × 2 Nakagami-m channels. Later, we propose a novel technique for mitigating passive eavesdropping, which considers first-order secrecy metrics as an optimization problem and determines their lower and upper bounds. Finally, we conduct an analysis of bounded HOP and SOP using the interactive Nakagami-m channel, considering the multiple-input-multiple-output configuration of the UAV system. The findings indicate that 2 × 2 Nakagami-m is a suitable fading model under constant velocity for trustworthy receivers and eavesdroppers. The results indicate that UAV mobility has some influence on an eavesdropper’s intrusion during line-of-sight-enabled communication and can play an important role in improving security against passive eavesdroppers.

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Keywords

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