A Novel Opportunistic Spectrum Sharing Scheme for Cognitive Ad Hoc Networks

Nowadays, wireless ad hoc networks are using a static spectrum allocation which leads to congestion in this spectrum parts as the number of devices increases. On the contrary, a significant portion of the spectrum in licensed band (e.g. TV band) is not utilized. Cognitive radio (CR) is a promising technology to solve the spectrum inefficiency problem in ad hoc networks. Based on CR, the unlicensed (secondary) users will utilize the unused spectrum of the licensed (primary) users in an opportunistic manner. As a result, the average spectrum usage will be increased. However, the sudden appearance of primary users will have a negative impact on the performance of secondary users, since secondary users must evacuate the occupied channel and handoff to another unutilized one. This process continues till an unlicensed user finishes his transmission. We will name this process consecutive spectrum handoff (CSH). In order to increase the performance of CR, the number of consecutive spectrum handoffs should be reduced. In this paper, a novel opportunistic spectrum sharing scheme under a heterogeneous spectrum environment of licensed and unlicensed bands is introduced. In this scheme, the licensed channels will be used as operating channels and the unlicensed channels will be used as backup channels when the primary user appears. Since the unlicensed channels are not interrupted by primary users, no more spectrum handoff is needed

A novel opportunistic spectrum sharing scheme for cognitive ad hoc networks

Nowadays, wireless ad hoc networks are using a static spectrum allocation which leads to congestion in this spectrum parts as the number of devices increases. On the contrary, a significant portion of the spectrum in licensed band (e.g. TV band) is not utilized. Cognitive radio (CR) is a promising technology to solve the spectrum inefficiency problem in ad hoc networks. Based on CR, the unlicensed (secondary) users will utilize the unused spectrum of the licensed (primary) users in an opportunistic manner. As a result, the average spectrum usage will be increased. However, the sudden appearance of primary users will have a negative impact on the performance of secondary users, since secondary users must evacuate the occupied channel and handoff to another unutilized one. This process continues till an unlicensed user finishes his transmission. We will name this process consecutive spectrum handoff (CSH). In order to increase the performance of CR, the number of consecutive spectrum handoffs should be reduced. In this paper, a novel opportunistic spectrum sharing scheme under a heterogeneous spectrum environment of licensed and unlicensed bands is introduced. In this scheme, the licensed channels will be used as operating channels and the unlicensed channels will be used as backup channels when the primary user appears. Since the unlicensed channels are not interrupted by primary users, no more spectrum handoff is needed

Spectrum sharing security and attacks in CRNs: a review

Cognitive Radio plays a major part in communication technology by resolving the shortage of the spectrum through usage of dynamic spectrum access and artificial intelligence characteristics. The element of spectrum sharing in cognitive radio is a fundament al approach in utilising free channels. Cooperatively communicating cognitive radio devices use the common control channel of the cognitive radio medium access control to achieve spectrum sharing. Thus, the common control channel and consequently spectrum sharing security are vital to ensuring security in the subsequent data communication among cognitive radio nodes. In addition to well known security problems in wireless networks, cognitive radio networks introduce new classes of security threats and challenges, such as licensed user emulation attacks in spectrum sensing and misbehaviours in the common control channel transactions, which degrade the overall network operation and performance. This review paper briefly presents the known threats and attacks in wireless networks before it looks into the concept of cognitive radio and its main functionality. The paper then mainly focuses on spectrum sharing security and its related challenges. Since spectrum sharing is enabled through usage of the common control channel, more attention is paid to the security of the common control channel by looking into its security threats as well as protection and detection mechanisms. Finally, the pros and cons as well as the comparisons of different CR - specific security mechanisms are presented with some open research issues and challenges

Cognitive radio-enabled Internet of Vehicles (IoVs): a cooperative spectrum sensing and allocation for vehicular communication

Internet of Things (IoTs) era is expected to empower all aspects of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) to improve transport safety and reduce road accidents. US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) officially allocated 75MHz spectrum in the 5.9GHz band to support vehicular communication which many studies have found insufficient. In this paper, we studied the application of Cognitive Radio (CR) technology to IoVs in order to increase the spectrum resource opportunities available for vehicular communication, especially when the officially allocated 75MHz spectrum in 5.9GHz band is not enough due to high demands as a result of increasing number of connected vehicles as already foreseen in the near era of IoTs. We proposed a novel CR Assisted Vehicular NETwork (CRAVNET) framework which empowers CR enabled vehicles to make opportunistic usage of licensed spectrum bands on the highways. We also developed a novel co-operative three-state spectrum sensing and allocation model which makes CR vehicular secondary units (SUs) aware of additional spectrum resources opportunities on their current and future positions and applies optimal sensing node allocation algorithm to guarantee timely acquisition of the available channels within a limited sensing time. The results of the theoretical analyses and simulation experiments have demonstrated that the proposed model can significantly improve the performance of a cooperative spectrum sensing and provide vehicles with additional spectrum opportunities without harmful interference against the Primary Users (PUs) activities

A novel multi-fold security framework for cognitive radio wireless ad-hoc networks

Cognitive Radio (CR) Technology has emerged as a smart and intelligent technology to address the problem of spectrum scarcity and its under-utilization. CR nodes sense the environment for vacant channels, exchange control information, and agree upon free channels list (FCL) to use for data transmission and conclusion. CR technology is heavily dependent on the control channel to dialogue on the exchanged control information which is usually in the Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM) band. As the ISM band is publically available this makes the CR network more prone to security vulnerabilities and flaws. In this paper a novel multi-fold security framework for cognitive radio wireless ad-hoc networks has been proposed. Multiple security levels, such as, encryption of beacon frame and privately exchanging the FCL, and the dynamic and adaptive behaviour of the framework makes the proposed protocol more resilient and secure against the traditional security attacks when compared with existing protocols