Joint AP Selection and Power Allocation for Secure Cell-Free Massive MIMO Under Active Eavesdropping

محتوى المقالة الرئيسي

Ghaydaa Alaa
Aqiel Niama Almamori

الملخص

Cell-Free Massive MIMO is believed to be one of the most promising designs of future wireless networks due to its ability to provide more coverage, high reliability and improved spectral efficiency, while also supporting secure communication through distributed access point (AP) cooperation. However, secure downlink transmission in cell-free massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (CF-mMIMO) systems becomes challenging when an active eavesdropper (Eve) is located near the targeted user. To achieve high secrecy spectral efficiency (SSE) with a limited number of active APs and a restricted power budget under Nakagami-m fading and imperfect channel state information (CSI), a secrecy-oriented AP selection algorithm is proposed with maximum-ratio transmission (MRT) precoding. Two power allocation schemes are considered: equal power allocation (EPA) and water-filling (WF). Simulation results indicate that the proposed joint-optimization AP activation method enhances the secrecy rate for the targeted user compared with non-optimized selection strategies. For CSI estimation error nk = 0.1, the proposed method achieves SSE improvements of 149% with WF and 317% with EPA. At a higher CSI estimation error nk = 0.4, the improvements are 144.5% with WF and 280.6% with EPA.

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.displayStats.downloads##

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.displayStats.noStats##

تفاصيل المقالة

القسم

Articles

كيفية الاقتباس

"Joint AP Selection and Power Allocation for Secure Cell-Free Massive MIMO Under Active Eavesdropping" (2026) مجلة الهندسة, 32(7), ص 43–76. doi:10.31026/j.eng.2026.07.03.

المراجع

Alageli, M., Ikhlef, A., Alsifiany, F., Abdullah, M.A.M., Chen, G. and Chambers, J., 2020. Optimal downlink transmission for cell free SWIPT massive MIMO Systems with active eavesdropping. In: IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 15, pp. 1983-1998. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIFS.2019.2954748.

Atiya, Y.S., Mobini, Z., Ngo, H.Q. and Matthaiou, M., 2023. Cell-free massive MIMO with protective partial zero-forcing and active eavesdropping. In: IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. https://doi.org/10.1109/VTC2023-Spring57618.2023.10201104.

Atiya, Y.S., Mobini, Z., Ngo, H.Q. and Matthaiou, M., 2024. Joint power optimization and AP selection for secure cell-free massive MIMO. In: 2024 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC). IEEE. pp. 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/WCNC57260.2024.10570555.

Atiya, Y.S., Mobini, Z., Ngo, H.Q. and Matthaiou, M., 2024. Secure transmission in cell-free massive MIMO under active eavesdropping. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 23(12), pp. 18036-18052. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2024.3459628.

Atiya, Y.S., Mobini, Z., Ngo, H.Q. and Matthaiou, M., 2025. Cell-free massive MIMO with multiple active eavesdroppers. IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, 6, pp. 1859–1872. https://doi.org/10.1109/OJCOMS.2025.3534640.

Bjornson, E. and Sanguinetti, L., 2020. Making cell-free massive MIMO Competitive with MMSE processing and centralized implementation. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 19(1), pp. 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2019.2941478.

Chen, S., Zhang, J., Björnson, E., Zhang, J. and Ai, B., 2021. Structured massive access for scalable cell-free massive MIMO systems. In: IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 39(4), pp. 1086-1100. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSAC.2020.3018836.

Chen, S., Zhang, J., Zhang, J., Björnson, E. and Ai, B., 2022. A survey on user-centric cell-free massive MIMO systems. Digital Communications and Networks, 24(1), pp. 611-652. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcan.2021.12.005.

Choi, Y.J., Yu, J.H., Seo, S.H., Choi, S.G., Jeong, H.Y., Kim, J.-E., Baek, M.-S., You, Y.-H. and Song, H.-K., 2025. CNN-based end-to-end CPU-AP-UE power allocation for spectral efficiency enhancement in cell-free massive MIMO networks. Mathematics, 13(9), P. 1442. https://doi: 10.3390/math13091442.

Gómez-Déniz, E. and Gómez-Déniz, L., 2024. A new derivation of the Nakagami-m distribution as a composite of the Rayleigh distribution. Wireless Networks, 30(5), pp. 3051–3060. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-024-03713-5.

Guo, Z., Sen, V. and Deng, H., 2026. Robust low-complexity WMMSE precoding under imperfect CSI with Per-antenna power constraints. Sensors, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/s26010159.

Hasan, M.F. and Almamori, A.N., 2025. Secrecy Rate in BD-RIS-Assisted uplink multi-user MIMO systems under nakagami-m fading with passive eavesdropping. Journal of Engineering, 31(11), pp. 73–89. https://doi.org/10.31026/j.eng.2025.11.05.

Hoang, T.M., Ngo, H.Q., Duong, T.Q., Tuan, H.D. and Marshall, A., 2018. Cell-free massive MIMO networks: Optimal power control against active eavesdropping. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 66(10), pp. 4724–4737. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCOMM.2018.2837132.

Jiang, H., Kong, L. and Du, S., 2023. Compute-and-forward transmission scheme in cell-free massive MIMO systems. ICT Express, 9(6), pp. 1138–1143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icte.2023.02.008.

Kapetanovic, D., Zheng, G. and Rusek, F., 2015. Physical layer security for massive MIMO: An overview on passive eavesdropping and active attacks. IEEE Communications Magazine, 53(6), pp. 21-27. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2015.7120012.

Kassam, J., Castanheira, D., Silva, A., Dinis, R. and Gameiro, A., 2023. A review on cell-free massive MIMO systems. Electronics (Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12041001.

Krause, A. and Golovin, D., 2014. Submodular function maximization. In Tractability: Practical Approaches to Hard Problems, pp. 71–104. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139177801.004.

Li, N., Gao, Y., Xu, K., Guo, M., Sha, N., Wang, X. and Wang, G., 2023. Spatial sparsity-based pilot attack detection and transmission countermeasure for cell-free massive MIMO system. IEEE Systems Journal, 17(2), pp. 2065–2076. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSYST.2022.3188279.

Ma, X., Lei, X., Zhou, X. and Tang, X., 2023. Secrecy performance evaluation of scalable cell-free massive MIMO systems: A stochastic geometry approach. IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 18, pp. 2826–2841. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIFS.2023.3268443.

Nasir, A.A., 2024. joint users’ secrecy rate and target’s sensing SNR maximization for a secure cell-free ISAC system. IEEE Communications Letters, 28(7), pp. 1549–1553. https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2024.3406398.

Nayebi, E., Ashikhmin, A., Marzetta, T.L., Yang, H. and Rao, B.D., 2017. Precoding and power optimization in cell-free massive MIMO systems. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 16(7), pp. 4445–4459. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2017.2698449.

Nemhauser, G.L., Wolsey, L.A. and Fisher, M.L., 1978. An analysis of approximations for maximizing submodular set functions — I, Mathematical Programming, 14(1), pp. 265–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01588971

Ngo, H.Q., Ashikhmin, A., Yang, H., Larsson, E.G. and Marzetta, T.L., 2017. Cell-free massive MIMO versus small cells. In IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. pp. 1834–1850. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2017.2655515.

Ngo, H.Q., Tran, L.N., Duong, T.Q., Matthaiou, M. and Larsson, E.G., 2018. On the total energy efficiency of cell-free massive MIMO. In IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking. pp. 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGCN.2017.2770215.

Nguyen, N.P., Ngo, H.Q., Duong, T.Q., Tuan, H.D. and Tourki, K., 2018. Secure massive MIMO with the artificial noise-aided downlink training. In IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 36(4), pp. 802–816. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSAC.2018.2825140.

Park, J., Yun, S. and Ha, J., 2024. Secure power control for downlink cell-free massive MIMO with passive eavesdroppers. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 73(6), pp. 9038-9043. https://doi: 10.1109/TVT.2023.3348485.

Solaija, M.S.J., Salman, H. and Arslan, H., 2022. Towards a Unified framework for physical layer security in 5G and beyond networks. IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology, 3, pp. 321–343. https://doi: 10.1109/OJVT.2022.3183218.

Tubail, D.A., Alsmadi, M. and Ikki, S., 2023. Physical layer security in downlink of cell-free massive MIMO with imperfect CSI. IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 18, pp. 2945–2960. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIFS.2023.3272769.

Wang, X., Gao, Y., Zhang, G., Guo, M. and Xu, K., 2022. Security performance analysis for cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output system with multi-antenna access points deployment in presence of active eavesdropping. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 18(8), P. 15501329221114536.

https://doi.org/10.1177/15501329221114535.

Wu, Y., Wen, C.K., Chen, W., Jin, S., Schober, R. and Caire, G., 2018. Data-aided secure massive MIMO transmission with active eavesdropping. IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), pp. 1-6, https://doi.org/10.1109/ICC.2018.8422338.

Xing, C., Jing, Y., Wang, S., Ma, S. and Poor, H.V., 2020. New viewpoint and algorithms for water-filling solutions in wireless communications. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 68, pp. 1618–1634. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSP.2020.2973488.

Zaher, M., Demir, O.T., Bjornson, E. and Petrova, M., 2023. Learning-based downlink power allocation in cell-free massive MIMO systems. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 22(1), pp. 174–188. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2022.3192203.

Zhang, X., Guo, D., An, K., Ding, Z. and Zhang, B., 2019. Secrecy analysis and active pilot spoofing attack detection for multigroup multicasting cell-free massive MIMO systems. IEEE Access, 7, pp. 57332–57340. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2914028.

Zhang, X., Liang, T., An, K., Zheng, G. and Chatzinotas, S., 2021. Secure transmission in cell-free massive MIMO with RF impairments and low-resolution ADCs/DACs. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 70(9), pp. 8937-8949. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2021.3098693.

Zhang, Y., Xia, W., Zheng, G., Zhao, H., Yang, L., and Zhu, H., 2022. Secure transmission in cell-free massive MIMO with low-resolution DACs over Rician fading channels. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 70(4), pp. 2606–2621. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCOMM.2022.3147241.

المؤلفات المشابهة

يمكنك أيضاً إبدأ بحثاً متقدماً عن المشابهات لهذا المؤلَّف.