arXiv subjects

Mattia Piana

Publications and source records attributed to Mattia Piana.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

BRISC: A Dataset of Channel Measurements at 5 GHz With a Reflective Intelligent Surface

We introduce the broadband reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) channel (BRISC) dataset. The dataset comprises measurements of channel state information (CSI) collected at 5.53 GHz using a 256-element RIS with binary states. In the measurement campaign, the transmitter and receiver are two software defined radios (SDRs), phase-synchronized via an OctoClock, where the transmitter (receiver) is equipped with one (two) antenna(s). To manage complexity, the RIS elements are grouped into blocks of different sizes, where all elements within a block share the same state. CSIs have been captured for multiple a) transmitter positions (and fixed receiver location), b) pilot block sizes, and c) state configurations. Furthermore, we calibrated the parameters of state-of-the-art RIS channel models to fit the measured CSI. With approximately 10000 configurations explored per transmitting position, BRISC serves as a robust benchmark in communication applications. We also show here an example of its use for physical-layer authentication.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

Secret Key Generation on Aerial Rician Fading Channels Against a Curious Receiver

Secret key generation at the physical layer is expected to be a fundamental enabler for next-generation networks. We consider a network where the user equipment is a drone and propose a novel secret key generation solution when the eavesdropper is another node belonging to the network (curious device). We exploit drone mobility over realistic Rician fading channels. In our protocol, after a prior training phase, drone Alice chooses a trajectory of positions in space and transmits a message to Bob, on the ground, from each position. From the received messages, Bob estimates the channel gain from which a secret key is extracted. The choice of the positions is made to maximize a lower bound on the secret key capacity. Numerical simulations are used to prove the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

Physical Layer-Based Device Fingerprinting for Wireless Security: From Theory to Practice

The identification of the devices from which a message is received is part of security mechanisms to ensure authentication in wireless communications. Conventional authentication approaches are cryptography-based, which, however, are usually computationally expensive and not adequate in the Internet of Things (IoT), where devices tend to be low-cost and with limited resources. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of physical layer-based device fingerprinting, which is an emerging device authentication for wireless security. In particular, this article focuses on hardware impairment-based identity authentication and channel features-based authentication. They are passive techniques that are readily applicable to legacy IoT devices. Their intrinsic hardware and channel features, algorithm design methodologies, application scenarios, and key research questions are extensively reviewed here. The remaining research challenges are discussed, and future work is suggested that can further enhance the physical layer-based device fingerprinting.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2025

Challenge-Response to Authenticate Drone Communications: A Game Theoretic Approach

As drones are increasingly used in various civilian applications, the security of drone communications is a growing concern. In this context, we propose novel strategies for challenge-response physical layer authentication (CR-PLA) of drone messages. The ground receiver (verifier) requests the drone to move to a defined position (challenge), and authenticity is verified by checking whether the corresponding measured channel gain (response) matches the expected statistic. In particular, the challenge is derived from a mixed strategy obtained by solving a zero-sum game against the intruder, which in turn decides its own positions. In addition, we derive the optimal strategy for multi-round authentication, where the CR-PLA procedure is iterated over several rounds. We also consider the energy minimization problem, where legitimate users want to minimize the energy consumption without compromising the security performance of the protocol. The performance of the proposed scheme is tested in terms of both security and energy consumption through numerical simulations, considering different protocol parameters, different scenarios (urban and rural), different drone altitudes, and also in the context of drone swarms.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

Energy-Based Optimization of Physical-Layer Challenge-Response Authentication with Drones

Drones are expected to be used for many tasks in the future and require secure communication protocols. In this work, we propose a novel physical layer authentication (PLA)-based challenge-response (CR) protocol in which a drone Bob authenticates the sender (either on the ground or air) by exploiting his prior knowledge of the wireless channel statistic (fading, path loss, and shadowing). In particular, Bob will move to a set of positions in the space, and by estimating the attenuations of the received signals he will authenticate the sender. We take into account the energy consumption in the design and provide three solutions: a purely greedy solution (PG), an optimal Bellman iterative solution (BI), and a heuristic solution based on the evaluation of the standard deviation of the attenuations in the space. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through numerical simulations.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

User Localization with HRIS and Backscatter Modulation for Next-Generation Networks

Hybrid reflective intelligent surfaces (HRISs) can support localization in sixth-generation (6G) networks thanks to their ability to generate narrow beams and at the same time receive and process locally the impinging signals. In this paper, we propose a novel protocol for user localization in a network with an HRIS. The protocol includes two steps. In the first step, the HRIS operates in full absorption mode and the user equipment (UE) transmits a signal that is locally processed at the HRIS to estimate the angle of arrival (AoA). In the second step, the base station transmits a downlink reference signal to the UE, and the HRIS superimposes a message by a backscatter modulation. The message contains information on the previously estimated AoA. Lastly, the UE, knowing the position of the HRIS, estimates the time of flight (ToF) from the signal of the second step and demodulates the information on the AoA to obtain an estimate of its location. Numerical results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed solution, also in comparison with the Cramér Rao lower bound on the estimated quantities.nd on the estimated quantities.

eess.SP↗