Secure communication via untrusted switchable decode-and-forward relay

Abstract

In this paper, a practical power efficient technique is proposed for an untrusted decode-and-forward (DAF) based cooperative communication system to provide secure communication between the source and the destination. More specifically, a DAF relay, called switchable DAF (sDAF), is designed in such a way that it can be switched to amplify-and-forward (AAF) in certain predefined situations. The algorithm is based on destination-assisted jamming and comprised of two phases. The first phase securely shares the random manipulating sequence (RMS) through an untrusted relay, while the second phase uses this RMS for secure communication through untrusted relay. This algorithm not only provides secrecy, but also enhances the power efficiency as compared to other destination-assisted jamming techniques.