On the trade-off between Secrecy and Energy-Efficiency in Multi-Layer Cellular Networks

In future wireless communication systems a robust information protection will have to be granted while affording other important requirements such as coverage, quality of service and power consumption. This paper proposes two metrics to evaluate the trade-off between the energy consumption and the wideness of the secure area that is provided by a network, in which the definition of secure area is based on the concept of information-theoretical secrecy capacity. The considered network scenario is based on a multilayer philosophy, with the joint use of micro and millimeter wave radio interfaces. The results show that the proposed metrics can be used to assess the extension of the secure area according to the specific energy consumption of the BS. On the other hand the evaluation metrics allow to compare and determine the network deployment and management strategies that provide the widest secure area with the lowest energy consumption.