# Secure analysis in cognitive satellite-terrestrial networks with untrusted LEO relaying and friendly jamming

## TL;DR

This paper explores how to secure data transmission in satellite networks by using a jammer to prevent eavesdropping through untrusted relays.

## Contribution

The study introduces a friendly jammer to enhance secrecy rates in cognitive satellite-terrestrial networks with untrusted LEO relays.

## Key findings

- Increasing interference threshold initially boosts secrecy rate but saturates at maximum transmit power.
- Removing maximum power constraints allows optimizing secrecy rate via interference threshold adjustment.
- Lighter shadowing improves secrecy rates despite enhancing the untrusted relay's channel.

## Abstract

This study examines physical layer security in a cognitive satellite-terrestrial network where a ground user (GU) transmits confidential data to a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite via an untrusted Low Earth Orbit (LEO) relay adopting the Amplify-and-Forward (AF) relay strategy. To counter eavesdropping risks from the relaying LEO satellite, a friendly LEO jammer emits artificial noise. The secrecy rate is analyzed under cognitive radio constraints, considering interference thresholds, relay gain, and GU-LEO link shadowing. Numerical results show that increasing the interference threshold initially improves the secrecy rate but saturates when the maximum transmit power constraint at the GU is reached. When this maximum power constraint is removed, the interference threshold can be adjusted to optimize the secrecy rate. Additionally, we observe that lighter shadowing conditions generally enhance the secrecy rate, even though they improve the untrusted relay’s channel. These findings offer valuable insights into optimizing security in cognitive satellite-terrestrial networks.