CIF: Small: Jamming in Wireless Networks: Offensive Strategies and Cooperation

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Interference is a key impediment to achieving high data rates in wireless communications systems. Intentional interference or "jamming" has primarily been studied in military communication networks. Most prior work has used non-descriptive models for the jammers, without ascribing any strategies or special capabilities to them beyond their ability to broadcast noise. This research project focuses on the design of the jamming strategies themselves, rather than on their mitigation (although the latter issue is inherently addressed as well). Questions considered include: What information can jammers exploit? How does the jammer deal with situations where this information is imprecise? How can distributed jammers coordinate their interference to maximize its effect? How should the jamming be designed to mask communications that must be kept secure from eavesdroppers? The project is focuses on jamming techniques that exploit multiple antennas at the physical layer. Specific research thrusts include: -- Cooperative jamming in wireless networks: Cooperative policies are being developed that optimally allocate resources to the desired link and friendly jammers. -- Malicious feedback: Scenarios where the "jamming" is not noise but rather malicious physical layer feedback. These are studied to determine the extent of potential damage and possible remedies. -- Robustness to inaccurate channel estimates: Maximizing the impact of jamming depends critically on the quality of the available channel information. This research is investigating the effect of inaccuries in this information and on techniques that are robust to such. -- Experimental studies: Using MIMO radios in their lab, the researchers are implementing cooperative jamming approaches in a real network and studying the gap between theoretical and actual performance.