Strong secrecy on a class of degraded broadcast channels using polar codes

Asymptotic secrecy-capacity achieving polar coding schemes are proposed for the memoryless degraded broadcast channel under different reliability and secrecy requirements: layered decoding or layered secrecy. In these settings, the transmitter wishes to send multiple messages to a set of legitimate receivers keeping them masked from a set of eavesdroppers. The layered decoding structure requires receivers with better channel quality to reliably decode more messages, while the layered secrecy structure requires eavesdroppers with worse channel quality to be kept ignorant of more messages. Practical constructions for the proposed polar coding schemes are discussed and their performance evaluated by means of simulations.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version