Continuum percolation in the intrinsically secure communications graph

Abstract

The intrinsically secure communications graph (iS-graph) is a random graph which captures the connections that can be securely established over a large-scale network, in the presence of eavesdroppers. It is based on principles of information-theoretic security, widely accepted as the strictest notion of security. In this paper, we are interested in characterizing the global properties of the iS-graph in terms of percolation on the infinite plane. We prove the existence of a phase transition in the Poisson iS-graph, whereby an unbounded component of securely connected nodes suddenly arises as we increase the density of legitimate nodes. Our work shows that long-range communication in a wireless network is still possible when a secrecy constraint is present.