Detecting Wireless Intrusions With RF Watermarks

Abstract

Validation of devices at the physical layer can be accomplish with radio frequency (RF) watermarks to enhance wireless network security. For this application, RF watermarks are implemented as small signal offsets below the noise floor which are superimposed onto the signal transmitted from a wireless device. A receiver equipped to detect the offsets is then utilized to determine whether the anticipated RF watermarks are present in the received signal. Through this process, the integrity of the originally transmitted data is maintained while simultaneously validating the authenticity of the transmitting device.