On Gaussian covert communication in continuous time

Abstract

Abstract The paper studies covert communication over a continuous-time Gaussian channel. The covertness condition requires that the channel output must statistically resemble pure noise. When the additive Gaussian noise is “white” over the bandwidth of interest, a formal coding theorem is proven, extending earlier results on covert Gaussian communication in discrete time. This coding theorem is applied to study scenarios where the input bandwidth can be infinite and where positive or even infinite per-second rates may be achievable.

Keywords

• Covert communication
• Low probability of detection
• Gaussian channel
• Continuous time
• Waveform channel
• Prolate spheroidal wave functions