Study of Relay Selection for Physical-Layer Security in Buffer-Aided Relay Networks Based on the Secrecy Rate Criterion

In this paper, we investigate an opportunistic relay and jammer scheme along with relay selection algorithms based on the secrecy rate criterion in multiple-input multiple-output buffer-aided down link relay networks, which consist of one source, a number of relay nodes, legitimate users and eavesdroppers, with the constraints of physical layer security. The opportunistic relay and jammer scheme is employed to improve the transmission rate and different relay selection policies are performed to achieve better secrecy rate with the consideration of eavesdroppers. Among all the investigated relay selection policies, a relay selection policy which is developed to maximize the secrecy rate based on exhaustive searches outperforms other relay selection policies in terms of secrecy rate. Based on the secrecy rate criterion, we develop a relay selection algorithm without knowledge of the channels of the eavesdroppers. We also devise a greedy search algorithm based on the secrecy rate criterion to reduce the computational complexity of the exhaustive search technique. Simulations show the superiority of the secrecy rate criterion over competing approaches.