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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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Hardware and Deep Learning-Based Authentication Through Enhanced RF Fingerprints of 3D-Printed Chaotic Antenna Arrays
Radio frequency (RF) fingerprinting is a hardware-based authentication technique utilizing the distinct distortions in the received signal due to the unique hardware differences in the transmitting device. Existing RF fingerprinting methods only utilize the naturally occurring hardware imperfections during fabrication; hence their authentication accuracy is limited in practical settings even when state-ofthe-art deep learning classifiers are used. In this work, we propose a Chaotic Antenna Array (CAA) system for significantly enhanced RF fingerprints and a deep learning-based device authentication method for CAA. We provide a mathematical model for CAA, explain how it can be cost-effectively manufactured by utilizing mask-free laser-enhanced direct print additive manufacturing (LE-DPAM), and comprehensively analyze the authentication performance of several deep learning classifiers for CAA. Our results show that the enhanced RF signatures of CAA enable highly accurate authentication of hundreds of devices under practical settings.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2233774
- PAR ID:
- 10658970
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- IEEE Access
- Volume:
- 13
- ISSN:
- 2169-3536
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 6893 to 6908
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- 3D printing, additive manufacturing, deep learning, device authentication, RF fingerprinting, physical layer, wireless communications, security
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3526583
