WiMAX mobile subscriber verification using Gabor-based RF-DNA fingerprints

Considerable effort has been put forth to exploit physical layer attributes to augment network bit-level security mechanisms. RF-DNA fingerprints possess such attributes and can be used to uniquely identify authorized users and mitigate unauthorized network activity. These attributes are unique to a given electronic device and difficult to replicate for cloning, spoofing, etc. Device discrimination (identification) of WiMAX devices has been successfully demonstrated using a one-to-many comparison against a pool of unknown device fingerprints. The work here now addresses device authentication using a one-to-one comparison against the specific fingerprint associated with a claimed bit-level identity (MAC, SIM, IMEI, etc). The concept is demonstrated using Gabor-based RF-DNA extracted from near-transient burst responses of 802.16e WiMAX mobile subscriber devices-device identification of better than 96% is achieved with verification EER ≤ 1.6% for SNR ≥ -3 dB.