Optical chaos based wireless device fingerprinting

1. A computer-implemented method for authenticating, by an authentication mechanism, an access point attempting to access a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving an authentication challenge from the access point;

analyzing the authentication challenge at a wireless node by using an optical chaos generation module having an optical section and a radio frequency (RF) section to facilitate reproducibility, unpredictability, and unclonability of challenge-response pairs, where each challenge-response pair is subjected to a two-phase authentication process including an enrollment phase and an authentication phase; and

transmitting an optical chaos signal as an authentication response to the access point, the authentication response having a behavior that is reproducible for a legitimate node and having a behavior that is unpredictable for an unauthorized node,

wherein, in the enrollment phase, the access point sends a plurality of authentication challenges to the wireless node and records all responses received therefrom, and wherein, in the authentication phase, the access point selects one challenge each time an authentication request is made,

wherein the wireless node is an optical chaos device incorporating therein a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna,

wherein optical chaos generation and wireless communication are unified on a common platform to introduce interference strength into the optical chaos generation without a need for synchronization of the receiving antenna and the transmitting antenna, and

wherein the optical chaos generation device processes the authentication response in binary digit form, a length of the authentication response being greater than a length of the authentication challenge to further facilitate the reproducibility, unpredictability and unclonability of challenge-response pairs, and overall security of the authentication mechanism, by requiring the unauthorized node to match both the authentication response and a corresponding digitization method adopted.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein introduction of the interference strength into the optical chaos generation further enhances the overall security of the authentication mechanism.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optical chaos generation module includes a semiconductor laser and a delayed opto-electronic feedback module.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optical section includes a laser diode that provides an optical output delayed in a time domain by a tunable delay line.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the delayed optical output is received by a photodiode.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the RF section includes an RF amplifier that amplifies an RF output of the photodiode.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the challenge-response pair reproducibility ensures a same challenge results in a stable response.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the challenge-response pair unpredictability ensures different challenge results in mutually different responses.

9. A system for authenticating, by an authentication mechanism, an access point attempting to access a wireless network, the system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:

receive an authentication challenge from the access point;

analyze the authentication challenge at a wireless node by using an optical chaos generation module having an optical section and a radio frequency (RF) section to facilitate reproducibility, unpredictability, and unclonability of challenge-response pairs, where each challenge-response pair is subjected to a two-phase authentication process including an enrollment phase and an authentication phase; and

transmit an optical chaos signal as an authentication response to the access point, the authentication response having a behavior that is reproducible for a legitimate node and having a behavior that is unpredictable for an unauthorized node,

wherein, in the enrollment phase, the access point sends a plurality of authentication challenges to the wireless node and records all responses received therefrom, and wherein, in the authentication phase, the access point selects one challenge each time an authentication request is made,

wherein the wireless node is an optical chaos device incorporating therein a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna,

wherein optical chaos generation and wireless communication are unified on a common platform to introduce interference strength into the optical chaos generation without a need for synchronization of the receiving antenna and the transmitting antenna, and

wherein the optical chaos generation device processes the authentication response in binary digit form, a length of the authentication response being greater than a length of the authentication challenge to further facilitate the reproducibility, unpredictability and unclonability of challenge-response pairs, and overall security of the authentication mechanism, by requiring the unauthorized node to match both the authentication response and a corresponding digitization method adopted.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein introduction of the interference strength into the optical chaos generation further enhances the overall security of the authentication mechanism.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the optical chaos generation module includes a semiconductor laser and a delayed opto-electronic feedback module.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the optical section includes a laser diode that provides an optical output delayed in a time domain by a tunable delay line.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the delayed optical output is received by a photodiode.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the RF section includes an RF amplifier that amplifies an RF output of the photodiode.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the challenge-response pair reproducibility ensures a same challenge results in a stable response.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the challenge-response pair unpredictability ensures different challenge results in mutually different responses.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer-readable program for authenticating, by an authentication mechanism, an access point attempting to access a wireless network, wherein the computer-readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform the steps of:

receiving an authentication challenge from the access point;

analyzing the authentication challenge at a wireless node by using an optical chaos generation module having an optical section and a radio frequency (RF) section to facilitate reproducibility, unpredictability, and unclonability of challenge-response pairs, where each challenge-response pair is subjected to a two-phase authentication process including an enrollment phase and an authentication phase; and

transmitting an optical chaos signal as an authentication response to the access point, the authentication response having a behavior that is reproducible for a legitimate node and having a behavior that is unpredictable for an unauthorized node,

wherein, in the enrollment phase, the access point sends a plurality of authentication challenges to the wireless node and records all responses received therefrom, and wherein, in the authentication phase, the access point selects one challenge each time an authentication request is made,

wherein the wireless node is an optical chaos device incorporating therein a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna,

wherein optical chaos generation and wireless communication are unified on a common platform to introduce interference strength into the optical chaos generation without a need for synchronization of the receiving antenna and the transmitting antenna, and

wherein the optical chaos generation device processes the authentication response in binary digit form, a length of the authentication response being greater than a length of the authentication challenge to further facilitate the reproducibility, unpredictability and unclonability of challenge-response pairs, and overall security of the authentication mechanism, by requiring the unauthorized node to match both the authentication response and a corresponding digitization method adopted.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein introduction of the interference strength into the optical chaos generation further enhances the overall security of the authentication mechanism.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the optical chaos generation module includes a semiconductor laser and a delayed opto-electronic feedback module.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 ,

wherein the optical section includes a laser diode that provides an optical output delayed in a time domain by a tunable delay line;

wherein the delayed optical output is received by a photodiode; and

wherein the RF section includes an RF amplifier that amplifies an RF output of the photodiode.