Visible to the public Covert Communication Under Channel Uncertainty and Noise Uncertainty

TitleCovert Communication Under Channel Uncertainty and Noise Uncertainty
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2019
AuthorsTa, H. Q., Kim, S. W.
Conference NameICC 2019 - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC)
Date PublishedMay 2019
Keywordsaverage probability, average probability of detection error, Channel estimation, channel gain, channel uncertainty, compositionality, covert channels, covert communication, covert throughput gain, covert throughput loss, data protection, eavesdropper, error statistics, fading channels, Gain, low probability of detection communication, noise power, noise uncertainty, Probability density function, Rayleigh channels, Rayleigh fading channel, receive SNR, resilience, Scalability, Signal to noise ratio, signal transmission, telecommunication security, Throughput, Uncertainty, user privacy protection
Abstract

Covert or low probability of detection communication is crucial to protect user privacy and provide a strong security. We analyze the joint impact of imperfect knowledge of the channel gain (channel uncertainty) and noise power (noise uncertainty) on the average probability of detection error at the eavesdropper and the covert throughput in Rayleigh fading channel. We characterize the covert throughput gain provided by the channel uncertainty as well as the covert throughput loss caused by the channel fading as a function of the noise uncertainty. Our result shows that the channel fading is essential to hiding the signal transmission, particularly when the noise uncertainty is below a threshold and/or the receive SNR is above a threshold. The impact of the channel uncertainty on the average probability of detection error and covert throughput is more significant when the noise uncertainty is larger.

URLhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8761935
DOI10.1109/ICC.2019.8761935
Citation Keyta_covert_2019