Hybrid satellite–terrestrial networks toward 6G : key technologies and open issues

Future wireless networks will be required to provide more wireless services at higher data rates and with global coverage. However, existing homogeneous wireless networks, such as cellular and satellite networks, may not be able to meet such requirements individually, especially in remote terrain, including seas and mountains. One possible solution is to use diversified wireless networks that can exploit the inter-connectivity between satellites, aerial base stations (BSs), and terrestrial BSs over inter-connected space, ground, and aerial networks. Hence, enabling wireless communication in one integrated network has attracted both the industry and the research fraternities. In this work, we provide a comprehensive survey of the most recent work on hybrid satellite–terrestrial networks (HSTNs), focusing on system architecture, performance analysis, design optimization, and secure communication schemes for different cooperative and cognitive HSTN network architectures. Different key technologies are compared. Based on this comparison, several open issues for future research are discussed

The Role of Physical Layer Security in Satellite-Based Networks

In the coming years, 6G will revolutionize the world with a large amount of bandwidth, high data rates, and extensive coverage in remote and rural areas. These goals can only be achieved by integrating terrestrial networks with non-terrestrial networks. On the other hand, these advancements are raising more concerns than other wireless links about malicious attacks on satellite-terrestrial links due to their openness. Over the years, physical layer security (PLS) has emerged as a good candidate to deal with security threats by exploring the randomness of wireless channels. In this direction, this paper reviews how PLS methods are implemented in satellite communications. Firstly, we discuss the ongoing research on satellite-based networks by highlighting the key points in the literature. Then, we revisit the research activities on PLS in satellite-based networks by categorizing the different system architectures. Finally, we highlight research directions and opportunities to leverage the PLS in future satellite-based networks

Secrecy Analysis on Network Coding in Bidirectional Multibeam Satellite Communications

Network coding is an efficient means to improve the spectrum efficiency of satellite communications. However, its resilience to eavesdropping attacks is not well understood. This paper studies the confidentiality issue in a bidirectional satellite network consisting of two mobile users who want to exchange message via a multibeam satellite using the XOR network coding protocol. We aim to maximize the sum secrecy rate by designing the optimal beamforming vector along with optimizing the return and forward link time allocation. The problem is nonconvex, and we find its optimal solution using semidefinite programming together with a 1-D search. For comparison, we also solve the sum secrecy rate maximization problem for a conventional reference scheme without using network coding. Simulation results using realistic system parameters demonstrate that the bidirectional scheme using network coding provides considerably higher secrecy rate compared with that of the conventional schem

Opportunistic Relay Selection over Generalized Fading and Inverse Gamma Composite Fading Mixed Multicast Channels : A Secrecy Tradeoff

This work was supported in part by the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Korean Government, Ministry of Science and ICT, under Grant ICT-NRF-2020R1A2B5B02002478; and in part by Sejong University through its Faculty Research Program under Grant 20212023.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

5G embraces satellites for 6G ubiquitous IoT : basic models for integrated satellite terrestrial networks

Terrestrial communication networks mainly focus on users in urban areas but have poor coverage performance in harsh environments, such as mountains, deserts, and oceans. Satellites can be exploited to extend the coverage of terrestrial fifth-generation (5G) networks. However, satellites are restricted by their high latency and relatively low data rate. Consequently, the integration of terrestrial and satellite components has been widely studied, to take advantage of both sides and enable the seamless broadband coverage. Due to the significant differences between satellite communications (SatComs) and terrestrial communications (TerComs) in terms of channel fading, transmission delay, mobility, and coverage performance, the establishment of an efficient hybrid satellite-terrestrial network (HSTN) still faces many challenges. In general, it is difficult to decompose a HSTN into a sum of separate satellite and terrestrial links due to the complicated coupling relationships therein. To uncover the complete picture of HSTNs, we regard the HSTN as a combination of basic cooperative models that contain the main traits of satellite-terrestrial integration but are much simpler and thus more tractable than the large-scale heterogeneous HSTNs. In particular, we present three basic cooperative models, i.e., model X, model L, and model V, and provide a survey of the state-of-the-art technologies for each of them. We discuss future research directions towards establishing a cell-free, hierarchical, decoupled HSTN. We also outline open issues to envision an agile, smart, and secure HSTN for the sixth-generation (6G) ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT)

On the secrecy performance of land mobile satellite communication systems

In this paper, we investigate the secrecy performance against eavesdropping of a land mobile satellite (LMS) system, where the satellite employs the spot beam technique, and both the terrestrial user and eavesdropper are equipped with multiple antennas and utilize maximal ratio combining (MRC) to receive the confidential message. Specifically, in terms of the availability of the eavesdropper’s CSI at the satellite, we consider both passive (Scenario I) and active (Scenario II) eavesdropping. For Scenario I where the eavesdropper’s channel state information (CSI) is unknown to the satellite, closed-form expressions for the probability of non-zero secrecy capacity and secrecy outage probability are derived. Furthermore, expressions for the asymptotic secrecy outage probability are also presented to reveal the secrecy diversity order and array gain of the considered system. For Scenario II where the eavesdropper’s CSI is available at the satellite, novel expressions for the exact and asymptotic average secrecy capacity are obtained. Based on a simple asymptotic formula, we can characterize the high signalto- noise ratio (SNR) slope and high SNR power offset of the LMS systems. Finally, simulations are provided to validate our theoretical analysis and show the effect of different parameters on the system performance

UAV Swarm-Enabled Aerial CoMP: A Physical Layer Security Perspective

Unlike aerial base station enabled by a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), aerial coordinated multiple points (CoMP) can be enabled by a UAV swarm. In this case, the management of multiple UAVs is important. This paper considers the power allocation strategy for a UAV swarm-enabled aerial network to enhance the physical layer security of the downlink transmission, where an eavesdropper moves following the trajectory of the swarm for better eavesdropping. Unlike existing works, we use only the large-scale channel state information (CSI) and maximize the secrecy throughput in a whole-trajectory-oriented manner. The overall transmission energy constraint on each UAV and the total transmission duration for all the legitimate users are considered. The non-convexity of the formulated problem is solved by using max-min optimization with iteration. Both the transmission power of desired signals and artificial noise (AN) are derived iteratively. Simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of our proposed power allocation algorithm and to show the advantage of aerial CoMP by using only the large-scale CSI

Security-Reliability Tradeoffs for Satellite-Terrestrial Relay Networks with a Friendly Jammer and Imperfect CSI

peer reviewedThis article proposes and analyzes the reliability and security tradeoff for a satellite-terrestrial (SatTer) relay system. Herein, a satellite sends confidential information to multiple ground users with the help of a relay base station (BS) in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers trying to wiretap the information. In particular, a friendly jammer is deployed near the relay BS to improve secure transmissions. Moreover, the nonidentical Rayleigh fading channels and imperfect channel state information are adopted for a general system model. Then, we consider both amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF) relaying strategies to give a full picture of the benefits of each method. In this context, we derive the closed-form expressions of the outage probability and intercept probability corresponding to AF- and DF-based relaying schemes, which is a high challenge and has not been investigated before. Then, Monte-Carlo simulations are conducted to evaluate the correctness of the mathematical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed methods. Furthermore, the security and reliability trade-off of the SatTer system and the influences of various system parameters (e.g., satellite's transmit power, channel estimation errors, relay's transmit power, fading severity parameter, the average power of light-of-sight, and satellite's multipath components) on the system performance are shown

Secrecy Analysis on Network Coding in Bidirectional Multibeam Satellite Communications

Network coding is an efficient means to improve the spectrum efficiency of satellite communications. However, its resilience to eavesdropping attacks is not well understood. This paper studies the confidentiality issue in a bidirectional satellite network consisting of two mobile users who want to exchange message via a multibeam satellite using the XOR network coding protocol. We aim to maximize the sum secrecy rate by designing the optimal beamforming vector along with optimizing the return and forward link time allocation. The problem is non-convex, and we find its optimal solution using semidefinite programming together with a 1-D search. For comparison, we also solve the sum secrecy rate maximization problem for a conventional reference scheme without using network coding. Simulation results using realistic system parameters demonstrate that the bidirectional scheme using network coding provides considerably higher secrecy rate compared to that of the conventional scheme