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EP-4203534-B1 - RADIO FREQUENCY FINGERPRINTING WITHIN DYNAMIC NETWORK TOPOLOGY

EP4203534B1EP 4203534 B1EP4203534 B1EP 4203534B1EP-4203534-B1

Inventors

  • ROGEL, Nuriel
  • Estrin, Michael
  • ZAHAVI, DANIEL

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20221221

Claims (15)

  1. A system comprising: at least one hardware processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program instructions, the program instructions executable by the at least one hardware processor to: receive, by a first radio frequency (RF) receiving device, an RF data transmission from an RF transmitter, analyze the received RF data transmission to estimate at least one RF feature, construct, based on said at least one RF feature, an RF fingerprint of said RF transmitter which is specific to said first RF receiving device, and convert said RF fingerprint for use by a second RF receiving device, by applying, to said RF fingerprint, a conversion function reflecting a differential between respective contribution values associated with each of said first and second receiving devices.
  2. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one RF feature is a carrier frequency offset (CFO) value associated with said RF transmitter.
  3. The system of any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said contribution value associated with said first and second receiving devices represent a change in said RF feature resulting from one or more of: operational parameters, ambient parameters, and hardware parameters, associated with said first or second receiving device, respectively.
  4. The system of claim 3, wherein said operational parameters and ambient parameters include at least one of: device operating temperature, connectivity state of one or more transceivers within the device, signal-to-noise ratio, channel bandwidth, a network communication channel used in transmission, ambient temperature, and ambient relative humidity.
  5. The system of any one of claims 1-4, wherein said contribution values are calculated by (i) each of said first and second receiving devices, respectively with respect to one another, or (ii) a third network device with respect to each of said first and second receiving devices.
  6. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a first radio frequency (RF) receiving device, an RF data transmission from an RF transmitter; analyzing the received RF data transmission to estimate at least one RF feature; constructing, based on said at least one RF feature, an RF fingerprint of said RF transmitter which is specific to said first RF receiving device; and converting said RF fingerprint for use by a second RF receiving device, by applying, to said RF fingerprint, a conversion function reflecting a differential between respective contribution values associated with each of said first and second receiving devices.
  7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein said at least one RF feature is a carrier frequency offset (CFO) value associated with said RF transmitter.
  8. The computer-implemented method of any one of claims 6 or 7, wherein said contribution value associated with said first and second receiving devices represent a change in said RF feature resulting from one or more of: operational parameters, ambient parameters, and hardware parameters, associated with said first or second receiving device, respectively.
  9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein said operational parameters and ambient parameters include at least one of: device operating temperature, connectivity state of one or more transceivers within the device, signal-to-noise ratio, channel bandwidth, a network communication channel used in transmission, ambient temperature, and ambient relative humidity.
  10. The computer-implemented method of any one of claims 6-9, wherein said contribution values are calculated by (i) each of said first and second receiving devices, respectively with respect to one another, or (ii) a third network device with respect to each of said first and second receiving devices.
  11. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by at least one hardware processor to: receive, by a first radio frequency (RF) receiving device, an RF data transmission from an RF transmitter; analyze the received RF data transmission to estimate at least one RF feature; construct, based on said at least one RF feature, an RF fingerprint of said RF transmitter which is specific to said first RF receiving device; and convert said RF fingerprint for use by a second RF receiving device, by applying, to said RF fingerprint, a conversion function reflecting a differential between respective contribution values associated with each of said first and second receiving devices.
  12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein said at least one RF feature is a carrier frequency offset (CFO) value associated with said RF transmitter.
  13. The computer program product of any one of claims 11 or 12, wherein said contribution value associated with said first and second receiving devices represent a change in said RF feature resulting from one or more of: operational parameters, ambient parameters, and hardware parameters, associated with said first or second receiving device, respectively.
  14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said operational parameters and ambient parameters include at least one of: device operating temperature, connectivity state of one or more transceivers within the device, signal-to-noise ratio, channel bandwidth, a network communication channel used in transmission, ambient temperature, and ambient relative humidity.
  15. The computer program product of any one of claims 11-14, wherein said contribution values are calculated by (i) each of said first and second receiving devices, respectively with respect to one another, or (ii) a third network device with respect to each of said first and second receiving devices.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates generally to the field of wireless communication systems. BACKGROUND The use of wireless communication systems, and their interconnections via networks, has grown rapidly in recent years. With the proliferation of mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) device, wireless technologies are becoming essential parts of modern life which provide low-cost, anywhere connectivity. Wireless networks share many of the same vulnerabilities as wired networks. However, the broadcast nature of the wireless transmission medium means that wireless communication is even more prone to attacks and disruptions than wired communication. Because wireless RF communication can suffer from these increased threats, additional countermeasures are needed to protect against them. One promising approach toward thwarting these attacks is through the extraction of unique device-specific "fingerprints" that can provide a reliable and robust means for positive device identification and authentication. Device fingerprints can be extracted from transmitted RF signals, by analyzing information across various layers of the protocol stack. Because RF fingerprints are difficult to clone, they may be relied on to obtain dependable and efficient electronic fingerprints and signatures from RF devices. These, in turn, may play a significant role in improving the security of many RF transmission protocols, e.g., for identification and authentication purposes. For example, by obtaining and storing the unique fingerprints of RF devices in a network, each device can be positively identified and authenticated within the network, thereby thwarting attempts to infiltrate the network with an unauthorized device attempting to impersonate an authorized device. In another example, RF fingerprints may also help to avoid relay attacks, because a relay device attempting to impersonate a legitimate device will, by necessity, have a slightly different RF fingerprint which may be detected by the transceiver device. The prior art document US2020067616A1 proposes calculating an expected 'true' Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO) value for an RF device for training RF transmissions, regardless of operational and/or ambient conditions. The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the figures. SUMMARY The present invention is defined by the appended independent claims. The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems, tools and methods which are meant to be exemplary and illustrative, not limiting in scope. There is provided, in an embodiment, a system comprising at least One hardware processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program instructions, the program instructions executable by the at least one hardware processor to: receive, by a first radio frequency (RF) receiving device, an RF data transmission from an RF transmitter, analyze the received RF data transmission to estimate at least one RF feature, construct, based on the at least one RF feature, an RF fingerprint of the RF transmitter which is specific to the first RF receiving device, and modify the RF fingerprint to generate a modified RF fingerprint for use by a second RF receiving device, by applying, to the RF fingerprint, a conversion function reflecting a differential between respective contribution values associated with each of the first and second receiving devices. There is also provided, in an embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a first radio frequency (RF) receiving device, an RF data transmission from an RF transmitter; analyzing the received RF data transmission to estimate at least one RF feature; constructing, based on the at least one RF feature, an RF fingerprint of the RF transmitter which is specific to the first RF receiving device; and modifying the RF fingerprint to generate a modified RF fingerprint for use by a second RF receiving device, by applying, to the RF fingerprint, a conversion function reflecting a differential between respective contribution values associated with each of the first and second receiving devices. There is further provided, in an embodiment, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by at least one hardware processor to: receive, by a first radio frequency (RF) receiving device, an RF data transmission from an RF transmitter; analyze the received RF data transmission to estimate at least one RF feature; construct, based on the at least one RF feature, an RF fingerprint of the RF transmitter which is specific to the