Secure Communication Using Non-systematic Error Control Codes

Abstract

A transmitter device (110T) for secure communication includes: an encoder (170) configured to apply a non-systematic error correcting code (NS ECC) to a message, thus producing encoded bits with no clear message bits; and a transceiver (720) configured to transmit the encoded bits over a main channel to a receiver. A method for secure communication includes: encoding a message with an NS ECC to produce an encoded message carrying no message bits in the clear; and transmitting the encoded message over a main channel (120). The NS ECC characteristics result in an eavesdropper channel error probability under a security threshold (320) and a main channel error probability over a reliability threshold (310), whenever an eavesdropper (140) listening on an eavesdropper channel (150) is more than distance Z (220) from the transmitter. Unreliable bits in the encoded bits render the eavesdropper unable to reliably decode messages on the main channel.