Methods for reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) aided cooperative directional security

A method for supporting directional security in a wireless network performed by a processor of a network device, comprising:

• determining a geographic zone of interest;
• selecting one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) associated with the geographic zone of interest;
• selecting one or more noise transmitting User Equipments (UEs), wherein selecting the one or more noise transmitting UEs comprises:
• selecting available UEs reporting support for cooperative directional security as cooperative UEs;
• determining positions of each of the cooperative UEs;
• selecting any of the cooperative UEs that are in a position relative to at least one of the one or more RISs to transmit a noise signal toward at least one of the one or more RISs as positioned cooperative UEs;
• determining at least one transmission metric for each of the positioned cooperative UEs;
• and
• selecting any of the positioned cooperative UEs having the at least one transmission metric meeting a noise transmission requirement as the one or more noise transmitting UEs;
• controlling the one or more noise transmitting UEs to transmit at least one noise signal;
• and
• controlling the one or more RISs to steer the at least one noise signal into the geographic zone of interest.

A user equipment (UE), comprising:

• a processor configured with processor executable instructions to:
• receive from a network device a noise resource allocation including an indication of a noise direction and a noise parameter, wherein the noise resource allocation includes an indication of a second power level;
• receive from the network device a communication resource allocation for a communication transmission signal including an indication of a different direction from the noise direction, wherein the communication resource allocation includes an indication of a first power level for the communication transmission signal;
• generate a noise signal based at least in part on the noise parameter;
• and
• transmit the noise signal in the noise direction at the second power level while transmitting the communication transmission signal at the first power level in the different direction from the noise direction.

A network device, comprising:

• a processor configured with processor executable instructions to:
• determine a geographic zone of interest;
• select one or more reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) associated with the geographic zone of interest;
• select one or more noise transmitting User Equipments (UEs), wherein to select the one or more noise transmitting UEs the processor is further configured with processor executable instructions to:
• select available UEs reporting support for cooperative directional security as cooperative UEs;
• determine positions of each of the cooperative UEs;
• select any of the cooperative UEs that are in a position relative to at least one of the one or more RISs to transmit a noise signal toward at least one of the one or more RISs as positioned cooperative UEs;
• determine at least one transmission metric for each of the positioned cooperative UEs;
• and
• select any of the positioned cooperative UEs having the at least one transmission metric meeting a noise transmission requirement as the one or more noise transmitting UEs;
• control the one or more noise transmitting UEs to transmit at least one noise signal;
• and
• control the one or more RISs to steer the at least one noise signal into the geographic zone of interest.