Research on application of radio physical layer key generation technology to proximity communication in 6G

Based on the characteristic in time, frequency and spatial domain, radio physical layer can provide powerful basic support for constructing new radio communication security mechanism. How to integrate the radio layer security concept with the traditional radio communication security mechanism is one of the most important studies during 6G technology research. This paper focuses on the proximity based services (ProSe) that show the characteristics of radio communication in 6G, analyzes the potential security enhancement space of the current 3GPP 5G ProSe standardization scheme, and proposes a proximity radio communication security enhancement mechanism based on radio physical layer key generation technology. The mechanism uses the uniqueness of the radio channel characteristics of both sides of the communication as a shared physical layer private information source, constructs a PC5 interface security model across the physical layer and the ProSe protocol layer, and enhances the security protection of discovery messages and signaling messages on PC5 interface in proximity communication. The mechanism can effectively enhance the radio communication security when the traditional security mechanism is not fully activated. Finally, potential application scenarios for radio physical layer key generation techniques in 6G proximity communication services are discussed.