Research project 2023–2025
Physical-Layer Security for Wireless Machine-Type Communications
An ARC-funded project developing new theoretical frameworks and transmission designs to secure wireless IoT and machine-type communications in the finite blocklength regime — the critical operating mode for 6G networks where short packets and strict latency constraints invalidate classical security results.
- Role
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Supervisor
- A/Prof. Xiangyun (Sean) Zhou
Overview
This project investigates secure wireless communication for large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-type communication (MTC) networks composed of low-cost, resource-constrained devices. It advances physical-layer security as a lightweight alternative to conventional cryptography by leveraging the inherent randomness of wireless channels to enable information-theoretic security without significant computational overhead.
The research focuses on the finite blocklength (FBL) regime, capturing practical scenarios with short packets and strict latency constraints where classical asymptotic results no longer apply. It develops analytical frameworks to quantify secrecy performance using average information leakage, alongside novel transmission strategies such as UAV-enabled mobile relaying with joint resource allocation and 3D trajectory optimization. Overall, the project delivers both theoretical foundations and practical design guidelines for secure, low-latency IoT systems, supporting the scalability and resilience of next-generation wireless networks.
Technical Contributions
Milad Tatar Mamaghani, Xiangyun Zhou, Nan Yang, A. Lee Swindlehurst, and H. Vincent Poor, “Performance Analysis of Finite Blocklength Transmissions Over Wiretap Fading Channels: An Average Information Leakage Perspective,” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 23, no. 10, pp. 13252–13266, Oct. 2024.
Milad Tatar Mamaghani, Xiangyun Zhou, Nan Yang, A. Lee Swindlehurst, and H. Vincent Poor, “On the Information Leakage Performance of Secure Finite Blocklength Transmissions over Rayleigh Fading Channels,” in Proc. IEEE International Conference on Communications, Denver, CO, USA, June 2024, pp. 1467–1472. (Best Paper Award)
Milad Tatar Mamaghani, Xiangyun Zhou, Nan Yang, and A. Lee Swindlehurst, “Secure Short-Packet Communications via UAV-Enabled Mobile Relaying: Joint Resource Optimization and 3D Trajectory Design,” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 7802–7815, July 2024.
Milad Tatar Mamaghani, Xiangyun Zhou, Nan Yang, and A. Lee Swindlehurst, “Secure Short-Packet Transmission with Aerial Relaying: Blocklength and Trajectory Co-Design,” in Proc. IEEE Global Communications Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec. 2023, pp. 5998–6004.