Secrecy performance of hybrid satellite-terrestrial relay networks in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers

• Published in: IET communications 2018-01, Vol.12 (1), p.26-34
• Main Authors: Huang, Qingquan, Lin, Min, An, Kang, Ouyang, Jian, Zhu, Wei-Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: amplify and forward communication; amplify‐and‐forward protocol; antenna arrays; array signal processing; decode and forward communication; decode‐and‐forward protocol; diversity reception; ergodic secrecy rate; heavy shadowing; HSTRN; hybrid satellite‐terrestrial relay networks; maximal ratio combining beamforming; Meijer‐G function; moment generating function; Monte Carlo methods; Monte‐Carlo simulations; multiantenna relay; multiple eavesdroppers; perfect channel state information; protocols; Rayleigh channels; Rayleigh fading; relay networks (telecommunication); Rician channels; satellite link; satellite links; secrecy performance; shadowed‐Rician fading; Special Section: Satellite Communications and Antennas; telecommunication security; terrestrial link; zero‐forcing BF schemes
• ISSN: 1751-8628; 1751-8636; 1751-8636
• DOI: 10.1049/iet-com.2017.0948

This study investigates the secrecy performance of a hybrid satellite-terrestrial relay network (HSTRN) in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers, where the satellite link undergoes Shadowed-Rician fading, while the terrestrial link follows Rayleigh fading. The authors suppose the direct link between the satellite and the intended user is unavailable due to heavy shadowing and adopt a multi-antenna relay using either a decode-and-forward (DF) or an amplify-and-forward (AF) protocol to assist the transmission. By employing perfect channel state information of each link at the relay, the authors first apply receive maximal ratio combining beamforming (BF) and transmit zero-forcing BF schemes to obtain the output signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the intended user and eavesdroppers. Then, based on the Meijer-G function and the moment generating function, the authors derive the analytical expressions of the ergodic secrecy rate for the considered HSTRN for both DF and AF protocols. Finally, Monte-Carlo simulations are conducted to validate the theoretical performance analysis and reveal the effects of certain representative parameters on the system secrecy performance.