On Performance and Feedback Strategy of Secure Multiuser Communications With MMSE Channel Estimate

In this paper, we investigate a multiuser MIMO downlink with imperfect channel state information (CSI) from the physical-layer security provision. In a classical transmitter (Alice)–legitimate receiver (Bob)–eavesdropper (Eve) model using artificial noise to disturb Eve’s reception, we consider a general scenario where all nodes are equipped with multiple antennas, and Bob’s CSI is acquired by pilot-assisted channel estimation. For designing the secure transmit beamforming, we utilize random matrix quantization (RMQ) to quantize Bob’s channel estimate, and then Bob feeds it back to Alice. Due to the effects of imperfect CSI at Alice, the secrecy performance is upper bounded in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regions. In order to avoid the interference-limited phenomenon, we present a scaled strategy for the secrecy system utilizing derived upper bound on the secrecy rate loss. Moreover, it is shown that our derived results can be easily extended to a special case where both legitimate and eavesdropping receivers equip a single antenna each, where random vector quantization (RVQ) is utilized instead. By employing our proposed feedback strategy, the secrecy rate increases with transmit power, and the certain secrecy requirement can be guaranteed.