Physical Layer Security in Multi-Antenna Cellular Systems: Joint Optimization of Feedback Rate and Power Allocation

This paper comprehensively studies the physical layer security in frequency division duplex multi-antenna cellular systems, where the multi-antenna base stations (BSs), legitimate users (LUs), and eavesdroppers are all randomly located. Each BS employs artificial-noise (AN)-aided multi-user linear beamforming with limited channel state information feedback. Based on the stochastic geometry theory, we first derive an analytical expression of a lower bound on the ergodic secrecy rate (ESR) of the typical LU without assuming asymptotes for any system parameter. We then develop a tight closed-form approximation on the optimal number of feedback bits to maximize a lower bound on the per-user net ESR, which takes into consideration the cost of uplink spectral efficiency for limited feedback. Moreover, the power allocation coefficient between message-bearing signals and AN can be optimized by using a bisection search method. Our main finding is that, the optimum number of feedback bits scales linearly with the path-loss exponent and the number of antennas, and scales logarithmically with the channel coherence time. The derived analytical results can also provide system-level insights into the ESR performance of the multi-antenna random cellular networks with limited feedback and the optimal system design. Numerical results are also presented to verify the obtained results.