PLoS ONE

Secure analysis in cognitive satellite-terrestrial networks with untrusted LEO relaying and friendly jamming

Peng Zhang, Jin Gao

Published Aug 11, 2025• 1 citation

Abstract

This study examines physical layer security in a cognitive satellite-terrestrial network where a ground user (GU) transmits confidential data to a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite via an untrusted Low Earth Orbit (LEO) relay adopting the Amplify-and-Forward (AF) relay strategy. To counter eavesdropping risks from the relaying LEO satellite, a friendly LEO jammer emits artificial noise. The secrecy rate is analyzed under cognitive radio constraints, considering interference thresholds, relay gain, and GU-LEO link shadowing. Numerical results show that increasing the interference threshold initially improves the secrecy rate but saturates when the maximum transmit power constraint at the GU is reached. When this maximum power constraint is removed, the interference threshold can be adjusted to optimize the secrecy rate. Additionally, we observe that lighter shadowing conditions generally enhance the secrecy rate, even though they improve the untrusted relay's channel. These findings offer valuable insights into optimizing security in cognitive satellite-terrestrial networks.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328729

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