2025/06/02 by Rohan Bali, Bali, Rohan, T. Bailey +5
Social Sciences · #Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.02297
The fundamental information-theoretic limits of covert, or low probability of detection (LPD), communication have been extensively studied for over a decade, resulting in the square root law (SRL): only L√(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 provably-secure 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 our initial results demonstrating the provably-secure covert radio-frequency (RF) communication using software-defined radios (SDRs). These validate theoretical predictions, open practical avenues for implementing covert communication systems, as well as raise future research questions.