Ciena Corporation
Physical-Layer Security for Coherent Communications System

Abstract:

Physical-layer security is provided by obfuscating or concealing the structure of the signal being transmitted, such that recovery of the underlying information is prohibitively expensive or even impossible. A digital filter implemented within a digital signal processor at the transmitter device introduces an obfuscation function. A digital filter implemented within a digital signal processor at the receiver device removes the obfuscation function. The obfuscation function conceals information bits to be conveyed by a modulated carrier signal. In some versions, the obfuscation function digitally modifies the phases of individual frequency components of the drive signals used to generate the modulated carrier signal. In other versions, the obfuscation function digitally modifies the phases and amplitudes of individual frequency components of the drive signals used to generate the modulated carrier signal.