Researchers Propose Energy-Efficient Communication Security Method

As more people use internet-connected devices, reliably protecting wireless communication and data exchange is becoming increasingly important. While computer scientists have developed advanced security measures over the past few decades, the most effective techniques rely on complex algorithms and intensive computations, which consume significant amounts of energy. According to reports, researchers from Peking University, Southeast University, the University of Sannio, and other institutions have recently proposed an effective and energy-efficient method for communication security that relies on a reconfigurable metasurface modulated by chaotic patterns. The related research paper was published in the journal Nature Communications. 'The idea stems from a simple yet urgent question: can we ensure the security of wireless communication without relying on traditional encryption keys?' said Lianlin Li, a senior co-author of the paper. 'Most existing systems require the sender and receiver to share keys, which must be securely created, distributed, stored, and periodically updated. This process is very complex and can introduce vulnerabilities, especially in rapidly changing or large-scale networks.' As part of their recent research, Li and his colleagues attempted to rethink security technology from the ground up. Instead of protecting information after it is generated, they aimed to design a method that makes signals unreadable to anyone other than the intended recipient. 'Equally important to us is ensuring traceability,' said Li. 'We wanted to find a solution that could be integrated into existing wireless systems without modifying transmitters, receivers, or communication protocols. This led us to explore the use of a special material called a metasurface to achieve physical layer security, combined with chaos theory, which excels at generating complex and unpredictable behaviors.'