Secret key extraction from a UWB channel: Analysis in a real environment

Abstract

In this paper, experimental results about secret key extraction from the physical parameters of an ultra-wideband (UWB) channel are presented. In the channel probing phase, the reciprocity of the UWB channel is verified. A quantization scheme is then proposed together with a key alignment technique. The proposed scheme, tested with real measurements in an indoor scenario, is shown to yield raw keys with good randomness properties and tolerable mismatch percentages between Alice and Bob, as well as unfavorable mismatch percentages and random error distribution for Eve.