Cooperative wideband spectrum sensing with multi-bit hard decision in cognitive radio

Cognitive radio offers an increasingly attractive solution to overcome the underutilization problem. A sensor network based cooperative wideband spectrum sensing is proposed in this paper. The purpose of the sensor network is to determine the frequencies of the sources and reduced the total sensing time using a multi-resolution sensing technique. The final result is computed by data fusion of multi-bit decisions made by each cooperating secondary user. Simulation results show improved performance in energy efficiency

Mobile Conductance in Sparse Networks and Mobility-Connectivity Tradeoff

In this paper, our recently proposed mobile-conductance based analytical framework is extended to the sparse settings, thus offering a unified tool for analyzing information spreading in mobile networks. A penalty factor is identified for information spreading in sparse networks as compared to the connected scenario, which is then intuitively interpreted and verified by simulations. With the analytical results obtained, the mobility-connectivity tradeoff is quantitatively analyzed to determine how much mobility may be exploited to make up for network connectivity deficiency.Comment: Accepted to ISIT 201

Analytical Studies of Fragmented-Spectrum Multi-Level OFDM-CDMA Technique in Cognitive Radio Networks

In this paper, we present a multi-user resource allocation framework using fragmented-spectrum synchronous OFDM-CDMA modulation over a frequency-selective fading channel. In particular, given pre-existing communications in the spectrum where the system is operating, a channel sensing and estimation method is used to obtain information of subcarrier availability. Given this information, some real-valued multi-level orthogonal codes, which are orthogonal codes with values of $\{\pm1,\pm2,\pm3,\pm4, ... \}$, are provided for emerging new users, i.e., cognitive radio users. Additionally, we have obtained a closed form expression for bit error rate of cognitive radio receivers in terms of detection probability of primary users, CR users' sensing time and CR users' signal to noise ratio. Moreover, simulation results obtained in this paper indicate the precision with which the analytical results have been obtained in modeling the aforementioned system.Comment: 6 pages and 3 figure

Improved Spectrum Mobility using Virtual Reservation in Collaborative Cognitive Radio Networks

Cognitive radio technology would enable a set of secondary users (SU) to opportunistically use the spectrum licensed to a primary user (PU). On the appearance of this PU on a specific frequency band, any SU occupying this band should free it for PUs. Typically, SUs may collaborate to reduce the impact of cognitive users on the primary network and to improve the performance of the SUs. In this paper, we propose and analyze the performance of virtual reservation in collaborative cognitive networks. Virtual reservation is a novel link maintenance strategy that aims to maximize the throughput of the cognitive network through full spectrum utilization. Our performance evaluation shows significant improvements not only in the SUs blocking and forced termination probabilities but also in the throughput of cognitive users.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, IEEE ISCC 201

Security in Cognitive Radio Networks

In this paper, we investigate the information-theoretic security by modeling a cognitive radio wiretap channel under quality-of-service (QoS) constraints and interference power limitations inflicted on primary users (PUs). We initially define four different transmission scenarios regarding channel sensing results and their correctness. We provide effective secure transmission rates at which a secondary eavesdropper is refrained from listening to a secondary transmitter (ST). Then, we construct a channel state transition diagram that characterizes this channel model. We obtain the effective secure capacity which describes the maximum constant buffer arrival rate under given QoS constraints. We find out the optimal transmission power policies that maximize the effective secure capacity, and then, we propose an algorithm that, in general, converges quickly to these optimal policy values. Finally, we show the performance levels and gains obtained under different channel conditions and scenarios. And, we emphasize, in particular, the significant effect of hidden-terminal problem on information-theoretic security in cognitive radios.Comment: Submitted to CISS 201

Effective Capacity in Cognitive Radio Broadcast Channels

In this paper, we investigate effective capacity by modeling a cognitive radio broadcast channel with one secondary transmitter (ST) and two secondary receivers (SRs) under quality-of-service constraints and interference power limitations. We initially describe three different cooperative channel sensing strategies with different hard-decision combining algorithms at the ST, namely OR, Majority, and AND rules. Since the channel sensing occurs with possible errors, we consider a combined interference power constraint by which the transmission power of the secondary users (SUs) is bounded when the channel is sensed as both busy and idle. Furthermore, regarding the channel sensing decision and its correctness, there exist possibly four different transmission scenarios. We provide the instantaneous ergodic capacities of the channel between the ST and each SR in all of these scenarios. Granting that transmission outage arises when the instantaneous transmission rate is greater than the instantaneous ergodic capacity, we establish two different transmission rate policies for the SUs when the channel is sensed as idle. One of these policies features a greedy approach disregarding a possible transmission outage, and the other favors a precautious manner to prevent this outage. Subsequently, we determine the effective capacity region of this channel model, and we attain the power allocation policies that maximize this region. Finally, we present the numerical results. We first show the superiority of Majority rule when the channel sensing results are good. Then, we illustrate that a greedy transmission rate approach is more beneficial for the SUs under strict interference power constraints, whereas sending with lower rates will be more advantageous under loose interference constraints.Comment: Submitted and Accepted to IEEE Globecom 201