Impairment based physical layer fingerprint

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11395136-B2
Application number	US-201916583005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2019
Priority date	Sep 25, 2019
Publication date	Jul 19, 2022
Grant date	Jul 19, 2022

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a wireless device may receive a beamformed signal from a transmitting device. The wireless device may estimate a weighted sum based at least in part on one or more coefficients that relate to impairments associated with the transmitting device, a spatial location of the wireless device, and/or the like. The wireless device may determine a cryptographic key based at least in part on a ratio among the plurality of coefficients in the weighted sum, and one or more communications between the wireless device and the transmitting device may be secured based on the cryptographic key. Numerous other aspects are provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless device, comprising:
receiving a beamformed signal from a transmitting device;
estimating a weighted sum based at least in part on a plurality of coefficients associated with the beamformed signal, wherein the plurality of coefficients include one or more coefficients related to one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device and one or more coefficients that depend on a spatial location of the wireless device;
determining a cryptographic key based at least in part on a ratio among the plurality of coefficients in the weighted sum associated with the beamformed signal; and
securing one or more communications between the wireless device and the transmitting device based at least in part on the cryptographic key.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beamformed signal combines coherently at the spatial location of the wireless device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device include non-linearities associated with one or more power amplifiers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cryptographic key is based at least in part on an average non-linearity among multiple power amplifiers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device include frequency-dependent residual sidebands associated with one or more power amplifiers.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device include frequency drifts associated with one or more power amplifiers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more coefficients that depend on the spatial location of the wireless device include a channel phase between the wireless device and one or more transmit antennas at the transmitting device, and a beamforming phase applied at each of the one or more transmit antennas.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more coefficients related to the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device are based at least in part on transmit power levels associated with the beamformed signal.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising quantizing the plurality of coefficients, wherein the cryptographic key is determined based at least in part on the quantized plurality of coefficients.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein securing the one or more communications between the wireless device and the transmitting device includes one or more of decrypting information received from the transmitting device using the cryptographic key, encrypting information transmitted to the transmitting device using the cryptographic key, or authenticating an identity of the transmitting device using the cryptographic key.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beamformed signal includes one or more Volterra kernels that represent the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device.

12. A wireless device for wireless communication, comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors coupled with the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:
receive a beamformed signal from a transmitting device;
estimate a weighted sum based at least in part on a plurality of coefficients associated with the beamformed signal, wherein the plurality of coefficients include one or more coefficients related to one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device and one or more coefficients that depend on a spatial location of the wireless device;
determine a cryptographic key based at least in part on a ratio among the plurality of coefficients in the weighted sum associated with the beamformed signal; and
secure one or more communications between the wireless device and the transmitting device based at least in part on the cryptographic key.

13. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the beamformed signal combines coherently at the spatial location of the wireless device.

14. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device include non-linearities associated with one or more power amplifiers.

15. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the cryptographic key is based at least in part on an average non-linearity among multiple power amplifiers.

16. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device include frequency-dependent residual sidebands associated with one or more power amplifiers.

17. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device include frequency drifts associated with one or more power amplifiers.

18. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more coefficients that depend on the spatial location of the wireless device include a channel phase between the wireless device and one or more transmit antennas at the transmitting device, and a beamforming phase applied at each of the one or more transmit antennas.

19. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more coefficients related to the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device are based at least in part on transmit power levels associated with the beamformed signal.

20. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the memory and the one or more processors are further configured to quantize the plurality of coefficients, wherein the cryptographic key is determined based at least in part on the quantized plurality of coefficients.

21. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the memory and the one or more processors, when securing the one or more communications between the wireless device and the transmitting device, are further configured to one or more of decrypt information received from the transmitting device using the cryptographic key, encrypt information transmitted to the transmitting device using the cryptographic key, or authenticate an identity of the transmitting device using the cryptographic key.

22. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the beamformed signal includes one or more Volterra kernels that represent the one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions for wireless communication, the one or more instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a wireless device, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a beamformed signal from a transmitting device;
estimate a weighted sum based at least in part on a plurality of coefficients associated with the beamformed signal, wherein the plurality of coefficients include one or more coefficients related to one or more impairments associated with the transmitting device and one or more coefficients that depend on a spatial location of the wireless device;
determine a cryptographic key based at least in part on a ratio among the plurality of coefficients in the weighted sum associated with the beamformed signal; and
secure one or more communications between the wireless device and the transmitting device based at least in part on the cryptographic key.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23 , wherein the beamformed signal combines coherently at the spatial location of the wireless device.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Yunusov David
• Touboul Assaf
• KUTZ Gideon Shlomo
• Landis Shay

Classifications

• H04W12/79

  Radio fingerprint · CPC title

• H04W12/068

  using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications · CPC title

• H04W12/0431

  Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement · CPC title

• H04W12/041 Primary

  Key generation or derivation · CPC title

• H04W12/03 Primary

  Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption · CPC title