Full-Space Covert Transmission Assisted by XL-STAR-RIS for Integrated Sensing and Communication

XIE Wenwu; ZHANG Qinke; YANG Liang; WANG Ji; YU Chao; LIU Xinzhong; CUI Yaru

doi:10.11999/JEIT260145

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XIE Wenwu, ZHANG Qinke, YANG Liang, WANG Ji, YU Chao, LIU Xinzhong, CUI Yaru. Full-Space Covert Transmission Assisted by XL-STAR-RIS for Integrated Sensing and Communication[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT260145

Citation:

XIE Wenwu, ZHANG Qinke, YANG Liang, WANG Ji, YU Chao, LIU Xinzhong, CUI Yaru. Full-Space Covert Transmission Assisted by XL-STAR-RIS for Integrated Sensing and Communication[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT260145

Citation:

XIE Wenwu, ZHANG Qinke, YANG Liang, WANG Ji, YU Chao, LIU Xinzhong, CUI Yaru. Full-Space Covert Transmission Assisted by XL-STAR-RIS for Integrated Sensing and Communication[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT260145

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Full-Space Covert Transmission Assisted by XL-STAR-RIS for Integrated Sensing and Communication

doi: 10.11999/JEIT260145 cstr: 32379.14.JEIT260145

1.
College of Information Science and Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414006, China
2.
College of Information Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
3.
College of Physical Science and Technology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China

Funds: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (62472169), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2023JJ50045, 2024JJ7218, 2024JJ7219), The Project of Education Bureau of Hunan Province (22B0676, 23C0217), Hunan Provincial College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship-Project: (S202410543061)

Accepted Date: 2026-04-17
Rev Recd Date: 2026-04-17

Available Online: 2026-05-05

Abstract

Abstract

Objective The evolution of 6G towards higher frequencies and larger antenna arrays positions ISAC as a key enabling technology. However, ISAC faces inherent challenges, including poor communication concealment and resource competition between sensing and communication functions. While covert communication and RIS offer promising solutions, existing research predominantly employs reflective RIS with limited half-space coverage and often operates under unrealistic far-field assumptions. To address these gaps, this paper proposes a novel near-field, full-space ISAC framework assisted by an XL-STAR-RIS. The core objective is to jointly optimize active and passive beamforming to enhance communication covertness and rate while strictly maintaining sensing performance, thereby providing a new paradigm for secure 6G networks. Methods The methodology begins with an analysis of the warden's detection capability, deriving a lower bound for its minimum detection error probability. Subsequently, a non-convex optimization problem is formulated to maximize the covert communication rate, constrained by sensing performance, a covertness threshold, and transmit power limits. The coupling between active beamforming vectors and passive RIS coefficients makes direct solution intractable. Therefore, an AO framework is adopted, decomposing the problem into two tractable subproblems. The active beamforming subproblem is solved using SDR enhanced with a PSCA method. The passive beamforming subproblem is handled via the Dinkelbach algorithm, incorporating a rank-one constraint penalization technique. These subproblems are solved iteratively within the AO loop until convergence is achieved. Results and Discussions Simulation results validate the proposed framework. The algorithm demonstrates efficient convergence within approximately 10 iterations. It achieves a superior covert communication rate of 11.5 bps/Hz, significantly outperforming baseline passive-RIS (9.8 bps/Hz) and non-RIS (8.0 bps/Hz) schemes. The performance advantage is further magnified with increased transmit power, highlighting excellent power adaptability. Crucially, the framework maintains robust performance under stringent conditions: it sustains a higher covert rate than benchmarks when sensing requirements are elevated, and preserves a high communication rate even under stricter covertness constraints. These results conclusively demonstrate that the joint XL-STAR-RIS beamforming optimization effectively balances the tripartite trade-off between communication, sensing, and covertness in near-field ISAC scenarios. Conclusions This paper presents an XL-STAR-RIS-assisted covert communication framework for near-field ISAC systems. By jointly designing active and passive beamforming through an efficient alternating optimization algorithm, the framework successfully balances communication rate, sensing accuracy, and transmission covertness. Comprehensive simulations confirm its superiority over conventional schemes, particularly under stringent operational constraints, proving its potential for secure, full-space 6G applications. Future work will focus on extending the framework to scenarios with imperfect channel knowledge, dynamic environments, and multi-RIS collaboration to enhance its practicality and robustness.
- Covert communication,
- Extremely large-scale reconfigurable intelligent surface,
- Integrated sensing and communication

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References(17)

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