Physical Layer Authentication Security in Radio Communication- Emerging Trends

Emerging mega-trends such as access control systems, wireless radio communication in active and passive wireless security systems and their promising applications are posing new challenges viz a viz new attacks to existing and future applications like Visible Light Communication (VLC), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Internet of Things (IoT) Electronic Ticketing, Electronic Passports etc. Consequently, dynamic management of additional measures and stepping ahead from mere reliance on cryptographic schemes deems crucial to smoothly garner the benefits of these technologies. Today, authentication between legitimate wireless systems without consideration of physical layer security attributes can provide attackers an open cheque to exploit the communication. Recently, Physical-Layer Authentication (PLA) has emerged and enticed many researchers as it offers enhanced security, effective authentication with low computational complexity. The paper aims to give the reader a short but comprehensive view of PLA techniques, its implementation challenges along with emphasis to the emerging trends of PLA based applications for sound and secure authentication in wireless communication.