Ergodic secrecy capacity of MRC/SC in single-input multiple-output wiretap systems with imperfect channel state information

This paper investigates the secrecy performance of maximal ratio combining (MRC) and selection combining (SC) with imperfect channel state information (CSI) in the physical layer. In a single-input multipleoutput (SIMO) wiretap channel, a source transmits confidential messages to the destination equipped with M antennas using the MRC/SC scheme to process the received multiple signals. An eavesdropper equipped with N antennas also adopts the MRC/SC scheme to promote successful eavesdropping. We derive the exact and asymptotic closed-form expressions for the ergodic secrecy capacity (ESC) in two cases: (1) MRC with weighting errors, and (2) SC with outdated CSI. Moreover, two important indicators, namely high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) slope and high SNR power offset, which govern ESC at the high SNR region, are derived. Finally, simulations are conducted to validate the accuracy of our proposed analytical models. Results indicate that ESC rises with the increase of the number of antennas and the received SNR at the destination, and fades with the increase of those at the eavesdropper. Another finding is that the high SNR slope is constant, while the high SNR power offset is correlated with the number of antennas at both the destination and the eavesdropper.