Robust Secrecy-Aware Power Allocation for UAV-Assisted IoT Sensing Networks Under Worst-Case Eavesdropping

Abstract

We investigate secure data transmission in a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted Internet of Things (IoT) sensing network, focusing on maximizing multi-sensor uplink secrecy capacity under practical power constraints and severe co-channel interference. Due to the coupled signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) expressions and the non-smooth secrecy-rate function, the formulated power allocation problem is highly nonconvex and mathematically challenging. To efficiently solve this problem, we exploit a novel mathematical reformulation by introducing a smooth approximation of the secrecy metric and developing a computationally efficient optimization framework based on sequential quadratic programming (SQP) with analytically derived gradients. The main strength of this framework lies in its low-complexity, deterministic nature, which eliminates the need for computationally exhaustive search heuristics while guaranteeing fast, stable convergence to a Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) point. Furthermore, we incorporate a robust worst-case eavesdropper modeling approach to guarantee secure communication under severe adversarial conditions. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly improves sum secrecy performance compared to conventional equal-power and baseline allocation schemes, proving highly scalable for real-time data collection in environmental monitoring, smart cities, and surveillance applications.