Order-Optimal Scaling of Covert Communication over MIMO AWGN Channels

Abstract

Covert communication, i.e., communication with a low probability of detection (LPD), has attracted a huge body of work. Recent studies have concluded that the maximal covert coding rate of the discrete memoryless channels and the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels is diminishing with the blocklength: the maximum information nats that can be transmitted covertly and reliably over such channels is only on the order of the square root of the blocklength. In this paper, we study covert communication over multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) AWGN channels. We derive the order-optimal scaling law of the number of covert nats when the maximal covert coding rate of MIMO AWGN channels is diminishing with the blocklength. Furthermore, we provide a comparative discussion for the case in which secrecy and energy undetectability constraints are combined.