Description

It is foreseen that in the next few years we will witness major leaps in the area of quantum computing, with serious implications for the domain of security. For example, NIST key management guidelines suggest that RSA keys lengths of more than 15,360-bits are necessary to attain a security strength similar to AES-256, and a selection process has been initiated by NIST to choose new post-quantum cryptographic primitives. On the other hand, with 5G on the verge of being launched, ultra-low delays are envisioned and become critical in a growing number of emerging applications. In this context, the increasing complexity and related overhead of quantum resistant cryptographic schemes may clash with one of the central requirements of 5G and beyond (B5G) systems to connect people, machines and ultimately everything with diminishing delays and increasing autonomy. Currently, there is an intense discussion in progress in the wireless community on possible alternative approaches to secure the 5G and B5G wireless edge, building on the premise that the properties of the wireless medium can be exploited in building novel security approaches. Similar arguments hold for Internet of Things (IoT) devices and applications. The area of physical layer security (PLS) is gaining momentum in this framework, with the hope that it can play a vital role in reducing both the latency as well as the complexity of novel security standards. The aspiration of the present special issue is to provide the platform for presenting cutting-edge novel results in PLS and its potential application in B5G systems, as well as high quality tutorial articles on related topics. The focus of this publication is on the integration of PLS into actual systems and the potential benefits in securing emerging systems, including, but not limited to, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), massive machine type communications (mMTC), Internet of Things (IoT), visible light communications (VLC), near field communications (NFC), etc.

---

Lead Guest Editor

• Arsenia Chorti, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Electronique et de ses Applications (ENSEA), France

Guest Editors

• Stefano Tomasin, University of Padova, Italy
• H. Vincent Poor, Princeton University, US
• Marco Baldi, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy
• Salim El Rouayheb, Rutgers University, US
• Xianbin Wang, Western University, Canada

Follow @eurasip