Generalized Multiple Access Channels with Confidential Messages

TL;DR

This paper characterizes the capacity-equivocation region for a generalized multiple access channel with confidential messages, analyzing how to maximize secure communication rates while keeping private information secret from other users.

Contribution

It derives inner and outer bounds on the capacity-equivocation region for GMAC with confidential messages, including special cases like Gaussian channels and perfect secrecy scenarios.

Findings

Inner and outer bounds on capacity-equivocation region derived

Capacity-equivocation region established for Gaussian GMAC

Secrecy capacity region with perfect secrecy for one user

Abstract

A discrete memoryless generalized multiple access channel (GMAC) with confidential messages is studied, where two users attempt to transmit common information to a destination and each user also has private (confidential) information intended for the destination. The two users are allowed to receive channel outputs, and hence may obtain the confidential information sent by each other from channel outputs they receive. However, each user views the other user as a wire-tapper, and wishes to keep its confidential information as secret as possible from the other user. The level of secrecy of the confidential information is measured by the equivocation rate, i.e., the entropy rate of the confidential information conditioned on channel outputs at the wire-tapper. The performance measure of interest for the GMAC with confidential messages is the rate-equivocation tuple that includes the common rate, two private rates and two equivocation rates as components. The set that includes all these achievable rate-equivocation tuples is referred to as the capacity-equivocation region. The GMAC with one confidential message set is first studied, where only one user (user 1) has private (confidential) information for the destination. Inner and outer bounds on the capacity-equivocation region are derived, and the capacity-equivocation are established for some classes of channels including the Gaussian GMAC. Furthermore, the secrecy capacity region is established, which is the set of all achievable rates with user 2 being perfectly ignorant of confidential messages of user 1. For the GMAC with two confidential message sets, where both users have confidential messages for the destination, an inner bound on the capacity-equivocation region is obtained.