Multi‐Channel Secret Sharing and Camouflage in Programmable Metasurface‐Based Wireless Communication

Abstract

Abstract Information security has become increasingly critical with the widespread development of wireless technologies. However, current information security technologies predominantly rely on either software‐layer or physical‐layer encryption as standalone solutions, both of which present fundamental constraints. In this article, a novel architecture for multi‐channel secret sharing and camouflage is proposed by combining both software‐ and physical‐layer security mechanism based on a programmable metasurface. At the software layer, a one‐time pad (OTP) algorithm employs exclusive‐OR (XOR) operations with dynamic keys and predefined camouflage data to encrypt and share secrets. At the physical layer, the programmable metasurface spatially disperses the shared messages through reconfigurable multi‐beam steering and polarization control. Over‐the‐air experiments demonstrate that the proposed architecture successfully realizes dynamic OTP secret sharing, a capability unattainable with static metasurface‐based systems. The robustness of the system is also verified, underscoring its potential for real‐world applications. Crucially, legitimate users must collaboratively combine all distributed keys and encrypted messages for secret recovery, whereas eavesdroppers intercepting individual channels obtain only non‐decryptable fragments, which correspond to predefined camouflage data. This work synergistically integrates software‐layer encryption with the physical‐layer functionalities of programmable metasurfaces, offering transformative potential for future highly secure wireless networks and distributed data storage architectures.