Secrecy Rate Maximization for Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted Multi-Antenna Communications

We investigate transmission optimization for intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) assisted multi-antenna systems from the physical-layer security perspective. The design goal is to maximize the system secrecy rate subject to the source transmit power constraint and the unit modulus constraints imposed on phase shifts at the IRS. To solve this complicated non-convex problem, we develop an efficient alternating algorithm where the solutions to the transmit covariance of the source and the phase shift matrix of the IRS are achieved in closed form and semi-closed forms, respectively. The convergence of the proposed algorithm is guaranteed theoretically. Simulations results validate the performance advantage of the proposed optimized design.