In this work, we consider an integrated sensing and covert communication (ISACC) system with a finite blocklengthLaided by a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) withNelements. Specifically, with the aid of RIS, a transmitter Alice is to sense the potential existence of a target, and she is also probabilistically trying to send information to a receiver Bob covertly (i.e., trying to hide her transmissions from a warden Willie). Meanwhile, Willie is to detect whether Alice is sensing the target only or conducting ISACC. We consider two RIS operation modes, i.e., a non-adaptive mode, where RIS employs a common beamforming vector regardless of whether Alice performs sensing-only or ISACC transmissions, and an adaptive mode, where RIS dynamically switches between two beamforming vectors tailored to the transmission type. For each mode, we formulate and solve an optimization problem that jointly determines Alice’s power allocation fractionρfor covert information signals and RIS beamforming vectors to maximize the effective covert communication throughput, while satisfying sensing and covertness constraints. Our examination shows that in the non-adaptive mode, the optimalρdecreases with the blocklengthL, the number of RIS elementsN, or Alice’s transmit powerPa, reflecting a stronger trade-off between covert throughput and sensing reliability. In contrast, in the adaptive mode, the optimal solution isρ∗ = 1, indicating that Alice can fully rely on RIS adaptivity to conceal covert transmissions by switching its beamforming vectors. Numerical results further demonstrate a significant covert communication throughput gain of the adaptive mode over the non-adaptive mode, which increases with bothNandPa, highlighting the importance of RIS adaptivity in the ISACC systems.

The problem of robust reliable control with multi-objective requirements and static-output-feedback (SOF) form is studied for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems subject to vector-bounded nonlinear dynamics, norm-bounded disturbances and actuator faults or the loss of actuator effectiveness. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory and multi-objective optimization strategy, a sufficient condition for the reliable controller design with SOF-form is developed. It can guarantee the robust stability, the given magnitude constraints on control input and system output, the prescribed level on the disturbance attenuation and the optimized quadratic cost performance of the closed-loop system under all possible faults. Thus, the comprehensive performance of the post-fault system is ensured by the designed controller. Finally, a numerical example is provided to verify the effectiveness of our proposed design algorithm.