Reflection Optimization for Covert Ambient Backscatter Systems Under Two Jamming Patterns

Ambient backscatter communication (ABC) enables low-cost and energy-efficient connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT) devices by leveraging ambient radio-frequency (RF) signals. However, the passive nature and open wireless medium of ABC systems make them vulnerable to detection by unauthorized receivers (wardens). To mitigate this risk, covert communication, which conceals transmissions by embedding them within noise, offers a promising security enhancement for ABC systems. This article proposes a jammer-assisted reflection coefficient optimization framework to enhance the covertness and reliability of ABC systems with an endogenous warden and an external jammer. Specifically, we consider two distinct jamming patterns: 1) uniformly distributed and 2) truncated exponentially distributed artificial noise power. We derive closed-form expressions for both the outage probability of the backscatter link and the minimum detection error rate at the warden under these jamming patterns. Based on these expressions, we determine the optimal reflection coefficients that maximize the effective covert rate while satisfying a predefined covertness constraint. Additionally, we introduce the concept of jamming cost to evaluate the efficiency and applicability of different jamming patterns in terms of the required jamming power to achieve a desired level of covertness. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization framework and reveal that while uniform jamming provides stronger covertness and lower jamming cost, truncated exponential jamming achieves a lower outage probability. These findings provide key insights for designing secure and efficient ABC systems across diverse IoT deployment scenarios.