The accurate identification of wireless devices is critical for enabling automated network access monitoring and authenticated data communication in large-scale networks; e.g., IoT networks. RF fingerprinting has emerged as a potential solution for device identification by leveraging the transmitter unique manufacturing impairments of the RF components. Although deep learning is proven efficient in classifying devices based on the hardware impairments, trained models perform poorly due to channel variations. That is, although training and testing neural networks using data generated during the same period achieve reliable classification, testing them on data generated at different times degrades the accuracy substantially. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to propose to leverage MIMO capabilities to mitigate the channel effect and provide a channelresilient device classification. For the proposed technique we show that, for Rayleigh channels, blind partial channel estimation enabled by MIMO increases the testing accuracy by up to 40% when the models are trained and tested over the same channel, and by up to 60% when the models are tested on a channel that is different from that used for training.
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Deep Learning-Based Device Fingerprinting for Increased LoRa-IoT Security: Sensitivity to Network Deployment Changes
Deep learning-based device fingerprinting has recently been recognized as a key enabler for automated network access authentication. Its robustness to impersonation attacks due to the inherent difficulty of replicating physical features is what distinguishes it from conventional cryptographic solutions. Although device fingerprinting has shown promising performances, its sensitivity to changes in the network operating environment still poses a major limitation. This paper presents an experimental framework that aims to study and overcome the sensitivity of LoRa-enabled device fingerprinting to such changes. We first begin by describing RF datasets we collected using our LoRa-enabled wireless device testbed. We then propose a new fingerprinting technique that exploits out-of-band distortion information caused by hardware impairments to increase the fingerprinting accuracy. Finally, we experimentally study and analyze the sensitivity of LoRa RF fingerprinting to various network setting changes. Our results show that fingerprinting does relatively well when the learning models are trained and tested under the same settings. However, when trained and tested under different settings, these models exhibit moderate sensitivity to channel condition changes and severe sensitivity to protocol configuration and receiver hardware changes when IQ data is used as input. However, with FFT data is used as input, they perform poorly under any change.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2003273
- PAR ID:
- 10330003
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- IEEE network
- ISSN:
- 0890-8044
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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