This topic focuses on covert communication in satellite aerial terrestrial integrated networks (SATINs). With the rapid development of the 6G-enabled Internet of Things (IoT), SATINs integrate satellite communication systems, aerial platforms, and mature terrestrial networks, thereby offering wide coverage, high flexibility, and enhanced connectivity. However, the inherent broadcast nature and large-scale coverage of wireless communications also introduce significant security and privacy challenges. Covert communication, which aims to conceal the very existence of transmissions, has therefore attracted increasing attention. In recent years, substantial progress has been made in covert communication technologies, making their application to SATINs both timely and necessary. This topic seeks to explore the integration of covert communication into SATINs and to investigate its fundamental performance analysis, design methodologies, and practical challenges.

Related topics:
• Covert communication in cognitive satellite aerial terrestrial integrated networks;
• Performance analysis for covert satellite networks;
• Resource optimization in covert satellite networks;
• Covert performance analysis under non-ideal conditions;
• Covert communication in NOMA-aided satellite networks;
• Covert communication in RSMA-aided satellite networks;
• RIS-assisted satellite aerial terrestrial integrated networks;
• Covert communication under machine learning aided channel prediction in satellite networks;
• Covert communication for two-way/full-duplex satellite networks

The manuscript should be submitted via the submission link (http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icsip2026), or to  icsip2016@vip.163.com before the submission deadline (February 5, 2026).

Special Session Chairs:

Assoc. Prof. Kefeng Guo, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China

Kefeng Guo received his B.S. degree from Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China in 2012, and the Ph.D. degree in Army Engineering University, Nanjing, China in 2018. He is an associate professor in the College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has authored or coauthored nearly 100 research papers in international journals and conferences. His research interests focus on cooperative relay networks, MIMO communications systems, multiuser communication systems, satellite communication, hardware impairments, cognitive radio, NOMA technology and physical layer security. He was a recipient of exemplary Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Communications in 2022. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award of Chinese Institute of Command and Control in 2020. He was the recipient of the Best Paper Award of WiSATS 2024 and NCIC 2024. He also was the recipient of the Excellent Ph.D. Thesis Award of Jiangsu Province, China in 2020. He was listed in the World’s Top 2% Scientists identified by Stanford University in 2022-2025. He also serves as an Editor on the Editorial Board for the EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking and IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society. Dr. Guo has been the TPC member of many IEEE sponsored conferences, such as IEEE ICC, IEEE GLOBECOM and IEEE WCNC.

Asst. Prof. Ali Nauman, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, South Korea

Ali Nauman received the Ph.D. degree in information and communication engineering from Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea, in 2022. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Yeungnam University. He has contributed to five patents and authored/co-authored five book chapters and more than 100 technical articles in leading journals and peer-reviewed conferences. Dr. Nauman has also edited two books and serves as an editor and a reviewer of highly reputed journals and conferences. He is the Founder of IEEE ComSoc Special Interest Group on AI for Integrated TN and NTN (AITNTN). The main domain of his research is in the field of artificial intelligence-enabled wireless networks for Non-Terrestrial Networks, tactile healthcare, multimedia, and industry 5.0. The research interest also includes resource allocation for 5G and Beyond-5G (B5G) networks, Device-to-Device communication (D2D)/V2X, Internet-of-Everything (IoE), and URLLC.

Assoc. Prof. Zhi Lin, National University of Defense Technology, China

Zhi Lin received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in information and communication engineering from the PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China, in 2013 and 2016, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electronic science and technology from the Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, in 2020. From 2019 to 2020, he was a Visiting Ph.D. Student with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. Since 2021, he has been with the College of Electronic Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Hefei, China, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His research interests include array signal processing, physical layer security, reconfigurable intelligent surface, and satellite-aerial-terrestrial integrated networks. He was listed in the 2025 Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, 2024 Highly Cited Chinese Researchers by Elsevier, World's Top 2% Scientists identified by Stanford University in 2022–2025. He was the recipient of the Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program of China Association for Science and Technology in 2021, Macao Young Scholars Fellowship in 2022, Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award of Chinese Institute of Electronics in 2022, and Best Paper Awards from WCSP 2025, IEEE/CIC ICCC 2024, EAI WiSATS 2024, NCIC 2024, IEEE ICCT 2023, and IWCMC 2023. He was the Symposium Cochair of WCSP 2022 and WCSP 2024, and TPC members of IEEE flagship conferences, such as IEEE ICC, Globecom, Infocom, and VTC. Since 2024, he has been the Editor of the Physical Communication.