  Optimal power allocation for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) wiretap channels with Gaussian channel inputs has already been studied
in some previous works from an information theoretical viewpoint. However,
these results are not sufficient for practical system design. One reason is
that discrete channel inputs, such as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)
signals, instead of Gaussian channel inputs, are deployed in current practical
wireless systems to maintain moderate peak transmission power and receiver
complexity. In this paper, we investigate the power allocation and artificial
noise design for OFDM wiretap channels with discrete channel inputs. We first
prove that the secrecy rate function for discrete channel inputs is nonconcave
with respect to the transmission power. To resolve the corresponding nonconvex
secrecy rate maximization problem, we develop a low-complexity power allocation
algorithm, which yields a duality gap diminishing in the order of
O(1/\sqrt{N}), where N is the number of subcarriers of OFDM. We then show that
independent frequency-domain artificial noise cannot improve the secrecy rate
of single-antenna wiretap channels. Towards this end, we propose a novel
time-domain artificial noise design which exploits temporal degrees of freedom
provided by the cyclic prefix of OFDM systems {to jam the eavesdropper and
boost the secrecy rate even with a single antenna at the transmitter}.
Numerical results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed
design schemes.
