Physical Layer Security for Integrated Sensing and Communication: A Survey

Abstract: Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has become a crucial technology in the development of next-generation wireless communication systems. The integration of communication and sensing functionalities on a unified spectrum and infrastructure is expected to enable a variety of emerging use cases. The introduction of ISAC has led to various new challenges and opportunities related to the security of wireless communications, resulting in significant research focused on ISAC system design in relation to physical layer security (PLS). The shared use of spectrum presents a risk where confidential messages embedded in probing ISAC signals may be exposed to potentially malicious sensing targets. This situation creates a tradeoff between sensing performance and security performance. The sensing functionality of ISAC offers a unique opportunity for PLS by utilizing sensing information regarding potential eavesdroppers to design secure PLS schemes. This study examines PLS methodologies to tackle the specified security challenge associated with ISAC. The study begins with a brief overview of performance metrics related to PLS and sensing, as well as the optimization techniques commonly utilized in the existing literature. A thorough examination of existing literature on PLS for ISAC is subsequently presented, with the objective of emphasizing the current state of research. The study concludes by outlining potential avenues for future research pertaining to secure ISAC systems.