Joint and Simultaneous Optimization of Artificial Noise-aided Precoding for Secure Communications

The joint design of secure precoding and artificial noise (AN) transmission scheme is promising to improve secrecy performance. However, in downlink multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems with multiple eavesdroppers, joint design of secure precoding and AN structure involves several challenges: an objective function is non-convex and non-smooth, and a precoding matrix and AN matrix have different design principles. Classically, to jointly design precoding and AN covariance matrix, an alternating optimization approach is used which has limitations in terms of the secrecy rate performance since it does not offer joint and simultaneous optimization of the precoding and AN covariance matrices. In this paper, we propose a novel optimization framework that optimizes the precoder and the AN covariance matrix jointly and simultaneously to maximize the secrecy rate. First, we approximate the objective function to a tractable non-convex form. Next, we derive the first-order optimality condition by leveraging the nonlinear eigenvalue problem (NEP) form. Finally, we utilize an efficient technique with low computational complexity for identifying the major eigenvector of the NEP which corresponds to the best stationary point. Simulations illustrate that the proposed methods enhance the secrecy rate performance compared to the existing secure precoding methods.