Fair Comparison and Evaluation of Quantization Schemes for PHY-based Key Generation

The generation of symmetric cryptographic keys out of wireless channel properties represents a promising approach for the establishment of secured communication links. Despite the tremendous number of different channel-based key generation protocols, there is little research on security evaluation and fair comparison of those systems. We present suitable metrics and a source model for a security evaluation of quantization schemes for physical layer security systems. By analyzing recent key generation techniques, we evaluate performances and security tradeoffs.