Design of artificial interference signal waveforms for covert communication aided by multiple friendly nodes

Abstract

In this work, we consider a covert communication scenario with multiple friendly interference nodes. The goal is to hide a legitimate communication link from a transmitter to a receiver under a warden’s surveillance. Firstly, we propose a novel strategy for generating artificial noise (AN) signals and formulate a corresponding design problem, aiming to minimize the adverse effects of AN on the legitimate receiver while enhancing communication covertness. Specifically, we optimize the basis matrix for AN signal space using statistical information of the involved channel coefficients, when precise channel state information are unavailable. Secondly, we analyze the geometric structure of the AN basis matrix constraint and transform the nonconvex problem into an unconstrained problem on the complex Stiefel manifold. Additionally, we develop a specialized Riemannian Stochastic Variance Reduced Gradient (R-SVRG) algorithm to tackle the problem. In the algorithm, the problem is solved with lower computational complexity compared to full gradient algorithm. Thirdly, we prove that the customized R-SVRG algorithm is theoretically guaranteed to be converge and that the solution is a stationary point of the optimization problem. In the end, simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed AN signal generation strategy over traditional AN in terms of achieving higher covert communication rate.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2026

Volume

25

Publication Title

IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications

Publisher

IEEE

School

School of Science

Funders

National Science Foundation of China (62271371, 62201425) / Shannxi Key Industrial Innovation Chain Project in Industrial Domain (2020ZDLGY15-01) / Qinchuangyuan Total Window “Four Chain” Integration Project (2024PT-ZCK-11) / Chongqing Natural Science Foundation Innovation and Development Joint Fund (China Satellite Network Group Company Ltd (CSTB2024NSCQ-LZX0162)

Comments

Zhao, X., Guo, W., Wang, Y., & Yan, S. (2025). Design of artificial interference signal waveforms for covert communication aided by multiple friendly nodes. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 25, 7809–7824. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2025.3633621

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subscription content

First Page

7809

Last Page

7824

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1109/TWC.2025.3633621