{"title":"Enhancing 5G Downlink Positioning Security: Embedding a Novel Authentication Scheme Into Empty PRS Resource Elements","authors":"Thodoris Spanos;Nikolaos Papageorgiou;Vassilis Paliouras","doi":"10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3590481","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"As wireless communication expands, there is a growing need for precise and secure location-based services. This work presents a novel authentication scheme designed to enhance security in 5G downlink positioning using the positioning reference signal (PRS). The proposed method embeds a hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) of the PRS into the empty resource elements (REs) of its comb-based structure, along with the original PRS sequence. Furthermore, a novel authentication similarity threshold is introduced, enabling the HMAC authentication process to operate under lower SNR conditions. In addition, the proposed method in the presence of channel estimation, synchronization and carrier frequency offset errors is quantified, reporting the percentage of erroneous bits in each extracted HMAC sequence. The robustness of the proposed threshold mechanism is highlighted, demonstrating its ability to tolerate bit errors caused by impairments of the physical layer. Simulations reveal that occupation of these REs does not affect position estimation.","PeriodicalId":13197,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Communications Letters","volume":"29 9","pages":"2188-2192"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11084864","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"IEEE Communications Letters","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11084864/","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"TELECOMMUNICATIONS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
As wireless communication expands, there is a growing need for precise and secure location-based services. This work presents a novel authentication scheme designed to enhance security in 5G downlink positioning using the positioning reference signal (PRS). The proposed method embeds a hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) of the PRS into the empty resource elements (REs) of its comb-based structure, along with the original PRS sequence. Furthermore, a novel authentication similarity threshold is introduced, enabling the HMAC authentication process to operate under lower SNR conditions. In addition, the proposed method in the presence of channel estimation, synchronization and carrier frequency offset errors is quantified, reporting the percentage of erroneous bits in each extracted HMAC sequence. The robustness of the proposed threshold mechanism is highlighted, demonstrating its ability to tolerate bit errors caused by impairments of the physical layer. Simulations reveal that occupation of these REs does not affect position estimation.
期刊介绍:
The IEEE Communications Letters publishes short papers in a rapid publication cycle on advances in the state-of-the-art of communication over different media and channels including wire, underground, waveguide, optical fiber, and storage channels. Both theoretical contributions (including new techniques, concepts, and analyses) and practical contributions (including system experiments and prototypes, and new applications) are encouraged. This journal focuses on the physical layer and the link layer of communication systems.