CLIMEX: A Wireless Physical Layer Security Protocol Based on Clocked Impulse Exchanges

Abstract: A novel method and protocol establishing common secrecy based on physical parameters between two users is proposed. The four physical parameters of users are their clock frequencies, their relative clock phases and the distance between them. The protocol proposed between two users is backed by theoretical model for the measurements. Further, estimators are proposed to estimate secret physical parameters. Physically exchanged parameters are shown to be secure by virtue of their non-observability to adversaries. Under a simplified analysis based on a testbed settings, it is shown that 38 bits of common secrecy can be derived for one run of the proposed protocol among users. The method proposed is also robust against various kinds of active timing attacks and active impersonating adversaries.