TY - GEN
T1 - RIS-Assisted Physical Layer Group Key Generation
T2 - 2026 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Workshops, WCNCW 2026
AU - Jia, Sijia
AU - Zhang, Yan
AU - Cao, Guangchuan
AU - Zhang, Wancheng
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 IEEE.
PY - 2026
Y1 - 2026
N2 - Physical-layer group key generation (PGKG) has been an attractive alternative for secure group communications in wireless networks. In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted PGKG scheme for the first time, which introduces RIS technology to enhance the key generation performance via a hybrid configuration of random and optimized phase shifts. To address the coordination challenge between the RIS and nodes under decentralized deployment, we propose an algorithm based on a fully cooperative multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) mechanism that jointly configures the RIS phase shifts and the nodes' broadcasting coefficients. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms existing works, achieving a higher sum secret key rate (SKR) along with stronger robustness against eavesdropping.
AB - Physical-layer group key generation (PGKG) has been an attractive alternative for secure group communications in wireless networks. In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted PGKG scheme for the first time, which introduces RIS technology to enhance the key generation performance via a hybrid configuration of random and optimized phase shifts. To address the coordination challenge between the RIS and nodes under decentralized deployment, we propose an algorithm based on a fully cooperative multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) mechanism that jointly configures the RIS phase shifts and the nodes' broadcasting coefficients. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms existing works, achieving a higher sum secret key rate (SKR) along with stronger robustness against eavesdropping.
KW - group key generation
KW - multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL)
KW - Physical layer security
KW - reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105043288610
U2 - 10.1109/WCNCW67598.2026.11555384
DO - 10.1109/WCNCW67598.2026.11555384
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105043288610
T3 - 2026 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Workshops, WCNCW 2026
BT - 2026 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Workshops, WCNCW 2026
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 16 April 2026
ER -