Performance of Cognitive Radio Systems with Imperfect Radio Environment Map Information

In this paper we describe the effect of imperfections in the radio environment map (REM) information on the performance of cognitive radio (CR) systems. Via simulations we explore the relationship between the required precision of the REM and various channel/system properties. For example, the degree of spatial correlation in the shadow fading is a key factor as is the interference constraint employed by the primary user. Based on the CR interferers obtained from the simulations, we characterize the temporal behavior of such systems by computing the level crossing rates (LCRs) of the cumulative interference represented by these CRs. This evaluates the effect of short term fluctuations above acceptable interference levels due to the fast fading. We derive analytical formulae for the LCRs in Rayleigh and Rician fast fading conditions. The analytical results are verified by Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: presented at IEEE AusCTW 2009. Journal versions are under preparation. This posting is the same as the original one. Only author's list is updated that was unfortunately not correctly mentioned in the first versio

Transmit without regrets: Online optimization in MIMO-OFDM cognitive radio systems

In this paper, we examine cognitive radio systems that evolve dynamically over time due to changing user and environmental conditions. To combine the advantages of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technologies, we consider a MIMO-OFDM cognitive radio network where wireless users with multiple antennas communicate over several non-interfering frequency bands. As the network's primary users (PUs) come and go in the system, the communication environment changes constantly (and, in many cases, randomly). Accordingly, the network's unlicensed, secondary users (SUs) must adapt their transmit profiles "on the fly" in order to maximize their data rate in a rapidly evolving environment over which they have no control. In this dynamic setting, static solution concepts (such as Nash equilibrium) are no longer relevant, so we focus on dynamic transmit policies that lead to no regret: specifically, we consider policies that perform at least as well as (and typically outperform) even the best fixed transmit profile in hindsight. Drawing on the method of matrix exponential learning and online mirror descent techniques, we derive a no-regret transmit policy for the system's SUs which relies only on local channel state information (CSI). Using this method, the system's SUs are able to track their individually evolving optimum transmit profiles remarkably well, even under rapidly (and randomly) changing conditions. Importantly, the proposed augmented exponential learning (AXL) policy leads to no regret even if the SUs' channel measurements are subject to arbitrarily large observation errors (the imperfect CSI case), thus ensuring the method's robustness in the presence of uncertainties.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication

A Distributed Approach to Interference Alignment in OFDM-based Two-tiered Networks

In this contribution, we consider a two-tiered network and focus on the coexistence between the two tiers at physical layer. We target our efforts on a long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) macro-cell sharing the spectrum with a randomly deployed second tier of small-cells. In such networks, high levels of co-channel interference between the macro and small base stations (MBS/SBS) may largely limit the potential spectral efficiency gains provided by the frequency reuse 1. To address this issue, we propose a novel cognitive interference alignment based scheme to protect the macro-cell from the cross-tier interference, while mitigating the co-tier interference in the second tier. Remarkably, only local channel state information (CSI) and autonomous operations are required in the second tier, resulting in a completely self-organizing approach for the SBSs. The optimal precoder that maximizes the spectral efficiency of the link between each SBS and its served user equipment is found by means of a distributed one-shot strategy. Numerical findings reveal non-negligible spectral efficiency enhancements with respect to traditional time division multiple access approaches at any signal to noise (SNR) regime. Additionally, the proposed technique exhibits significant robustness to channel estimation errors, achieving remarkable results for the imperfect CSI case and yielding consistent performance enhancements to the network.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted and to appear in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology Special Section: Self-Organizing Radio Networks, 2013. Authors' final version. Copyright transferred to IEE

Compressed Sensing based Dynamic PSD Map Construction in Cognitive Radio Networks

In the context of spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks, collaborative spectrum sensing has been proposed as a way to overcome multipath and shadowing, and hence increasing the reliability of the sensing. Due to the high amount of information to be transmitted, a dynamic compressive sensing approach is proposed to map the PSD estimate to a sparse domain which is then transmitted to the fusion center. In this regard, CRs send a compressed version of their estimated PSD to the fusion center, whose job is to reconstruct the PSD estimates of the CRs, fuse them, and make a global decision on the availability of the spectrum in space and frequency domains at a given time. The proposed compressive sensing based method considers the dynamic nature of the PSD map, and uses this dynamicity in order to decrease the amount of data needed to be transmitted between CR sensors’ and the fusion center. By using the proposed method, an acceptable PSD map for cognitive radio purposes can be achieved by only 20 % of full data transmission between sensors and master node. Also, simulation results show the robustness of the proposed method against the channel variations, diverse compression ratios and processing times in comparison with static methods

Resource Allocation for Downlink Multi-Cell OFDMA Cognitive Radio Network Using Hungarian Method

This paper considers the problem of resource allocation for downlink part of an OFDM-based multi-cell cognitive radio network which consists of multiple secondary transmitters and receivers communicating simultaneously in the presence of multiple primary users. We present a new framework to maximize the total data throughput of secondary users by means of subchannel assignment, while ensuring interference leakage to PUs is below a threshold. In this framework, we first formulate the resource allocation problem as a nonlinear and non-convex optimization problem. Then we represent the problem as a maximum weighted matching in a bipartite graph and propose an iterative algorithm based on Hungarian method to solve it. The present contribution develops an efficient subchannel allocation algorithm that assigns subchannels to the secondary users without the perfect knowledge of fading channel gain between cognitive radio transmitter and primary receivers. The performance of the proposed subcarrier allocation algorithm is compared with a blind subchannel allocation as well as another scheme with the perfect knowledge of channel-state information. Simulation results reveal that a significant performance advantage can still be realized, even if the optimization at the secondary network is based on imperfect network information