Securing Automatic Identification System Communications Using Physical-Layer Key Generation Protocol
The automatic identification system (AIS) is an essential tool for modern ships, enabling the broadcast of identification and location information. However, the current AIS standard lacks security features, meaning that messages exchanged via AISs are transmitted in plaintext, which leads to securit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/2/386 |
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| author | Jingyu Sun Zhimin Yi Ziyi Zhuang Shengming Jiang |
| author_facet | Jingyu Sun Zhimin Yi Ziyi Zhuang Shengming Jiang |
| author_sort | Jingyu Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The automatic identification system (AIS) is an essential tool for modern ships, enabling the broadcast of identification and location information. However, the current AIS standard lacks security features, meaning that messages exchanged via AISs are transmitted in plaintext, which leads to security issues such as privacy leakage. Most existing solutions rely on public key cryptography. This paper proposes a physical-layer key generation protocol based on the current AIS standard (ITU-R M.1371-5). In the case of unicast AIS communication, the protocol utilizes channel randomness to generate symmetric keys for securing communications. Compared to public key cryptography, the proposed protocol offers advantages such as low overhead, elimination of third parties, and ease of implementation. Finally, this paper discusses the security of the protocol against various threats as well as evaluates its performance and overhead. Under common speed and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions, The protocol generates Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) keys of different lengths in under 4000 ms, and these keys successfully pass the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) randomness test. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dcf3673d9af64385abe2a8a9abcfc885 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2077-1312 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-dcf3673d9af64385abe2a8a9abcfc8852025-08-20T02:44:46ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122025-02-0113238610.3390/jmse13020386Securing Automatic Identification System Communications Using Physical-Layer Key Generation ProtocolJingyu Sun0Zhimin Yi1Ziyi Zhuang2Shengming Jiang3College of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, ChinaCollege of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, ChinaShanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, ChinaCollege of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, ChinaThe automatic identification system (AIS) is an essential tool for modern ships, enabling the broadcast of identification and location information. However, the current AIS standard lacks security features, meaning that messages exchanged via AISs are transmitted in plaintext, which leads to security issues such as privacy leakage. Most existing solutions rely on public key cryptography. This paper proposes a physical-layer key generation protocol based on the current AIS standard (ITU-R M.1371-5). In the case of unicast AIS communication, the protocol utilizes channel randomness to generate symmetric keys for securing communications. Compared to public key cryptography, the proposed protocol offers advantages such as low overhead, elimination of third parties, and ease of implementation. Finally, this paper discusses the security of the protocol against various threats as well as evaluates its performance and overhead. Under common speed and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions, The protocol generates Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) keys of different lengths in under 4000 ms, and these keys successfully pass the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) randomness test.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/2/386physical-layer key generationAIS securitysymmetric encryptionsecret key exchange |
| spellingShingle | Jingyu Sun Zhimin Yi Ziyi Zhuang Shengming Jiang Securing Automatic Identification System Communications Using Physical-Layer Key Generation Protocol Journal of Marine Science and Engineering physical-layer key generation AIS security symmetric encryption secret key exchange |
| title | Securing Automatic Identification System Communications Using Physical-Layer Key Generation Protocol |
| title_full | Securing Automatic Identification System Communications Using Physical-Layer Key Generation Protocol |
| title_fullStr | Securing Automatic Identification System Communications Using Physical-Layer Key Generation Protocol |
| title_full_unstemmed | Securing Automatic Identification System Communications Using Physical-Layer Key Generation Protocol |
| title_short | Securing Automatic Identification System Communications Using Physical-Layer Key Generation Protocol |
| title_sort | securing automatic identification system communications using physical layer key generation protocol |
| topic | physical-layer key generation AIS security symmetric encryption secret key exchange |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/2/386 |
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