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Annals of Telecommunications

Research on improving the security and reliability of covert communication systems

Yaocong Xie, Haoming Wang, Enyu Li, Xiaojiang Fang, Zhongyi Tian

Published Jul 30, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher
DOI
10.1007/s12243-026-01205-5

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Wireless systems are of paramount importance for providing ubiquitous data transmission for smart cities. However, due to the broadcasting and openness of wireless channels, such systems face potential security challenges. UAV-assisted covert communication is a supporting technology for improving covert performances and has become a hot issue in the research of wireless communication security. This paper investigates the performance of joint covert and security communication in a tow-hop UAV-assisted wireless system, where a source transmits the covert message to a destination with the help of an untrusted UAV. We first design a transmission scheme such that use UAVs to assist in covert communications while ensuring the security of covert messages. Then, we develop a theoretical model to derive the expressions for the detection error probability of the warden and the covert and security rate, and the maximum covert and security rate is optimized by power control under a given covertness and security requirements. Finally, numerical results are provided to illustrate our theoretical analysis and the performance of covert and security communication in such systems.
Optical communication networks are easy to be eavesdropped by attackers, and traditional encryption algorithms have become more and more difficult to ensure the security of information transmission. Different from the traditional encryption algorithm, optical covert communication processes the signal at the physical layer, and improves the security and reliability of the system by hiding the optical signal in the public channel. Based on a typical microwave photonic filter, an optical covert communication scheme is proposed. On the one hand, the microwave photonic filter makes the scheme imperceptible. On the other hand, the randomness of complementary coding makes the scheme confidential. The feasibility of the scheme is analyzed theoretically, and the experimental results show that the covert channel is successfully transmitted over 50 km single-mode fiber.
The fundamental information-theoretic limits of covert, or low probability of detection/intercept (LPD/LPI), communication have been extensively studied for over a decade, resulting in the square root law (SRL): only $L\sqrt n $ covert bits can be reliably transmitted over time-bandwidth product n, for constant L> 0. Transmitting more either results in detection or decoding errors. The SRL imposes significant constraints on hardware realization of mathematically guaranteed covert communication. Indeed, they preclude using standard link maintenance operations that are taken for granted in non-covert communication. Thus, experimental validation of covert communication is underexplored: to date, only two experimental studies of SRL-based covert communication are available, both focusing on optical channels. Here, we report a demonstration of provably secure covert radio-frequency (RF) communication using software-defined radios (SDRs). This validates theoretical predictions, opens practical avenues for implementing covert communication systems, and raises further research questions.