Layered secure broadcasting over MIMO channels and application in secret sharing

In this paper, the degraded Gaussian Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) broadcast channel with layered decoding and secrecy constraints is investigated. In this model, there are in total K messages and K receivers that are ordered by the channel quality. Each receiver is required to decode one more message than the receiver with one level worse channel quality. Furthermore, this message should be kept secure from the receivers with worse channel qualities. The secrecy capacity region for this model is fully characterized. The converse proof relies on a novel construction of a series of covariance matrices. An application of this model to the problem of sharing multiple secrets, which is difficult to solve using number theoretic tools, is investigated. The secret sharing capacity region is characterized by reformulating the secret sharing problem as the secure communication problem over the K-receiver degraded Gaussian MIMO broadcast channel.