Adaptive Redundancy CRDSA in UAV-LEO Satellite Covert Communication Networks

TY - JOUR

T1 - Adaptive Redundancy CRDSA in UAV-LEO Satellite Covert Communication Networks

AU - Song, Zhe

AU - Zhang, Xuyang

AU - Wang, Shuai

AU - Jin, Xin

AU - Pan, Gaofeng

AU - An, Jianping

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 1972-2012 IEEE.

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - With the rapid development of integrated air-space-ground networks, ensuring secure and covert access for uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations has become a critical challenge. This paper proposes the novel adaptive redundancy contention resolution diversity slotted ALOHA (AR-CRDSA) scheme to provide reliable and covert communication for UAV users. The core of the scheme involves a dynamic pairing strategy that conceals a low-power covert user (CU) transmission under the signal of a high-power legitimate user (LU), thereby shielding it from detection by adversarial reconnaissance satellites. A key innovation is the departure from transmitting identical packet replicas; instead, the AR-CRDSA protocol sends two distinct yet complementary packet versions to adapt to fluctuating channel conditions. This adaptive mechanism, combined with multi-satellite selection diversity and an iterative interference cancellation process, is shown through extensive simulations to significantly enhance the effective covert throughput and overall system reliability when compared to traditional random access protocols.

AB - With the rapid development of integrated air-space-ground networks, ensuring secure and covert access for uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations has become a critical challenge. This paper proposes the novel adaptive redundancy contention resolution diversity slotted ALOHA (AR-CRDSA) scheme to provide reliable and covert communication for UAV users. The core of the scheme involves a dynamic pairing strategy that conceals a low-power covert user (CU) transmission under the signal of a high-power legitimate user (LU), thereby shielding it from detection by adversarial reconnaissance satellites. A key innovation is the departure from transmitting identical packet replicas; instead, the AR-CRDSA protocol sends two distinct yet complementary packet versions to adapt to fluctuating channel conditions. This adaptive mechanism, combined with multi-satellite selection diversity and an iterative interference cancellation process, is shown through extensive simulations to significantly enhance the effective covert throughput and overall system reliability when compared to traditional random access protocols.

KW - UAV-LEO satellite networks

KW - contention resolution diversity slotted ALOHA

KW - covert communication

KW - random access

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031852788

U2 - 10.1109/TCOMM.2026.3668167

DO - 10.1109/TCOMM.2026.3668167

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105031852788

SN - 1558-0857

VL - 74

SP - 5879

EP - 5892

JO - IEEE Transactions on Communications

JF - IEEE Transactions on Communications

ER -