Semantic Noise-Aided Secure Image Transmission Over MIMO Fading Channels

Existing semantic communications have exhibited satisfactory performance in many tasks, but secure image transmission remains insufficiently explored. We propose a novel secure image semantic communication (SISC) framework over multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading channels. To ensure high-quality image reconstruction for the legitimate semantic user (SU) and simultaneously interfere with the eavesdropper (Eve), we design a semantic noise generation (SNG) network. This network generates a beneficial semantic noise map based on both the source features and the SU channel state information (CSI). An efficient channel estimation enhanced network is incorporated to obtain the accurate CSI and enhance the system performance. Furthermore, to improve the secure image reconstruction quality, we develop an efficient transceiver beamformer optimization algorithm, where the formulated problem is solved using the constrained stochastic successive convex approximation method. In the proposed SISC framework, semantic noise generation and beamforming optimization work together to ensure secure and high-quality image transmission. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed semantic noise aided transmission scheme effectively protects image information from leakage to Eve while maintaining high-fidelity image reconstruction at SU.