Spectral Efficiency of Multi-User Adaptive Cognitive Radio Networks

In this correspondence, the comprehensive problem of joint power, rate, and subcarrier allocation have been investigated for enhancing the spectral efficiency of multi-user orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) cognitive radio (CR) networks subject to satisfying total average transmission power and aggregate interference constraints. We propose novel optimal radio resource allocation (RRA) algorithms under different scenarios with deterministic and probabilistic interference violation limits based on a perfect and imperfect availability of cross-link channel state information (CSI). In particular, we propose a probabilistic approach to mitigate the total imposed interference on the primary service under imperfect cross-link CSI. A closed-form mathematical formulation of the cumulative density function (cdf) for the received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) is formulated to evaluate the resultant average spectral efficiency (ASE). Dual decomposition is utilized to obtain sub-optimal solutions for the non-convex optimization problems. Through simulation results, we investigate the achievable performance and the impact of parameters uncertainty on the overall system performance. Furthermore, we present that the developed RRA algorithms can considerably improve the cognitive performance whilst abide the imposed power constraints. In particular, the performance under imperfect cross-link CSI knowledge for the proposed `probabilistic case' is compared to the conventional scenarios to show the potential gain in employing this scheme

Constrained Bayesian Active Learning of Interference Channels in Cognitive Radio Networks

In this paper, a sequential probing method for interference constraint learning is proposed to allow a centralized Cognitive Radio Network (CRN) accessing the frequency band of a Primary User (PU) in an underlay cognitive scenario with a designed PU protection specification. The main idea is that the CRN probes the PU and subsequently eavesdrops the reverse PU link to acquire the binary ACK/NACK packet. This feedback indicates whether the probing-induced interference is harmful or not and can be used to learn the PU interference constraint. The cognitive part of this sequential probing process is the selection of the power levels of the Secondary Users (SUs) which aims to learn the PU interference constraint with a minimum number of probing attempts while setting a limit on the number of harmful probing-induced interference events or equivalently of NACK packet observations over a time window. This constrained design problem is studied within the Active Learning (AL) framework and an optimal solution is derived and implemented with a sophisticated, accurate and fast Bayesian Learning method, the Expectation Propagation (EP). The performance of this solution is also demonstrated through numerical simulations and compared with modified versions of AL techniques we developed in earlier work.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, submitted to IEEE JSTSP Special Issue on Machine Learning for Cognition in Radio Communications and Rada

Interference Efficiency: A New Metric to Analyze the Performance of Cognitive Radio Networks

In this paper, we develop and analyze a novel performance metric, called interference efficiency, which shows the number of transmitted bits per unit of interference energy imposed on the primary users (PUs) in an underlay cognitive radio network (CRN). Specifically, we develop a framework to maximize the interference efficiency of a CRN with multiple secondary users (SUs) while satisfying target constraints on the average interference power, total transmit power, and minimum ergodic rate for the SUs. In doing so, we formulate a multiobjective optimization problem (MOP) that aims to maximize ergodic sum rate of SUs and to minimize average interference power on the primary receiver. We solve the MOP by first transferring it into a single objective problem (SOP) using a weighted sum method. Considering different scenarios in terms of channel state information (CSI) availability to the SU transmitter, we investigate the effect of CSI on the performance and power allocation of the SUs. When full CSI is available, the formulated SOP is nonconvex and is solved using augmented penalty method (also known as the method of multiplier). When only statistical information of the channel gains between the SU transmitters and the PU receiver is available, the SOP is solved using Lagrangian optimization. Numerical results are conducted to corroborate our theoretical analysis