Enhanced Dynamic Frequency Hopping Performance in Cognitive Radio IEEE 802.22 Standard

IEEE 802.22 is a Cognitive Radio based standard designed for Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRAN) for the purpose of providing wireless broadband access to rural and remote areas. The standard relies on the utilization of the unoccupied spectrum that became available after the TV signal was converted from analog to digital. In this thesis, we present an enhanced scheme for the operation of the Dynamic Frequency Hopping (DFH) technique in the IEEE 802.22 standard for WRANs. The performance of the DFH is analyzed thoroughly for various types of channels and for a Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The core of this research is based on the coexistence of the incumbent users and the WRANs in the TV white spaces (TVWS). The proposed technique, aims at protecting the licensed users from interfering with the cognitive broadband access in the TV spectrum. In order to achieve that, spectrum sensing is performed in the intended working channel in DFH while spectrum monitoring with the energy-ratio (ER) algorithm is applied during the WRAN data transmission in the currently working channel. Hence, in the DFH-ER algorithm the reappearance of an incumbent user in a band occupied by the WRANs would be detected immediately, providing interference free performance for the licensed user as well as reliable data transmission for the unlicensed one. Simulation results of the proposed DFH-ER technique compared to the conventional DFH scenario exemplify the enhancement of the WRAN data transmission while protecting the incumbent users

Survey of Spectrum Sharing for Inter-Technology Coexistence

Increasing capacity demands in emerging wireless technologies are expected to be met by network densification and spectrum bands open to multiple technologies. These will, in turn, increase the level of interference and also result in more complex inter-technology interactions, which will need to be managed through spectrum sharing mechanisms. Consequently, novel spectrum sharing mechanisms should be designed to allow spectrum access for multiple technologies, while efficiently utilizing the spectrum resources overall. Importantly, it is not trivial to design such efficient mechanisms, not only due to technical aspects, but also due to regulatory and business model constraints. In this survey we address spectrum sharing mechanisms for wireless inter-technology coexistence by means of a technology circle that incorporates in a unified, system-level view the technical and non-technical aspects. We thus systematically explore the spectrum sharing design space consisting of parameters at different layers. Using this framework, we present a literature review on inter-technology coexistence with a focus on wireless technologies with equal spectrum access rights, i.e. (i) primary/primary, (ii) secondary/secondary, and (iii) technologies operating in a spectrum commons. Moreover, we reflect on our literature review to identify possible spectrum sharing design solutions and performance evaluation approaches useful for future coexistence cases. Finally, we discuss spectrum sharing design challenges and suggest future research directions

Comparative Analysis between OFDMA and SC-FDMA: Model, Features and Applications

This paper represents Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SCFDMA) techniques along with the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). The concept, model, features, scopes, applications and limitation for both types of multiple access have been discussed in this paper. In present 4G and 5G cellular communication system, both OFDMA and SC-FDMA have a notable applications. Dividing the available spectrum into overlapping orthogonal narrowband sub bands, OFDMA ensures high spectral efficiency. Besides by allocating multiple sub carriers to each user, OFDMA provides high data rate, reduces inter blockage interference, minimizes frequency selective fading and so on. But it suffers from high peak to average power ration (PAPR) which results in high power consumption at the transmitter end. SC-FDMA is one of the most promising techniques to solve the PAPR problems. Besides it also removes the capacity problem of wireless cellular systems and provides higher spectral efficiency, depending on multiplexing signals based on their spatial signature. On the other hand, in OFDM due to fixed subcarrier allocations for each user and its performance can suffer from narrowband fading and interference

Novel channel sensing and access strategies in opportunistic spectrum access networks

textTraditionally radio spectrum was considered a commodity to be allocated in a fixed and centralized manner, but now the technical community and the regulators approach it as a shared resource that can be flexibly and intelligently shared between competing entities. In this thesis we focus on novel strategies to sense and access the radio spectrum within the framework of Opportunistic Spectrum Access via Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs). In the first part we develop novel transmit opportunity detection methods that effectively exploit the gray space present in packet based networks. Our methods proactively detect the maximum safe transmit power that does not significantly affect the primary network nodes via an implicit feedback mechanism from the Primary network to the Secondary network. A novel use of packet interarrival duration is developed to robustly perform change detection in the primary network's Quality of Service. The methods are validated on real world IEEE 802.11 WLANs. In the second part we study the inferential use of Goodness-of-Fit tests for spectrum sensing applications. We provide the first comprehensive framework for decision fusion of an ensemble of goodness-of-fit tests through use of p-values. Also, we introduce a generalized Phi-divergence statistic to formulate goodness-of-fit tests that are tunable via a single parameter. We show that under uncertainty in the noise statistics or non-Gaussianity in the noise, the performance of such non-parametric tests is significantly superior to that of conventional spectrum sensing methods. Additionally, we describe a collaborative spatially separated version of the test for robust combining of tests in a distributed spectrum sensing setting. In the third part we develop the sequential energy detection problem for spectrum sensing and formulate a novel Sequential Energy Detector. Through extensive simulations we demonstrate that our doubly hierarchical sequential testing architecture delivers a significant throughput improvement of 2 to 6 times over the fixed sample size test while maintaining equivalent operating characteristics as measured by the Probabilities of Detection and False Alarm. We also demonstrate the throughput gains for a case study of sensing ATSC television signals in IEEE 802.22 systems.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Cognitive Radio Systems

Cognitive radio is a hot research area for future wireless communications in the recent years. In order to increase the spectrum utilization, cognitive radio makes it possible for unlicensed users to access the spectrum unoccupied by licensed users. Cognitive radio let the equipments more intelligent to communicate with each other in a spectrum-aware manner and provide a new approach for the co-existence of multiple wireless systems. The goal of this book is to provide highlights of the current research topics in the field of cognitive radio systems. The book consists of 17 chapters, addressing various problems in cognitive radio systems

A Survey on Wireless Security: Technical Challenges, Recent Advances and Future Trends

This paper examines the security vulnerabilities and threats imposed by the inherent open nature of wireless communications and to devise efficient defense mechanisms for improving the wireless network security. We first summarize the security requirements of wireless networks, including their authenticity, confidentiality, integrity and availability issues. Next, a comprehensive overview of security attacks encountered in wireless networks is presented in view of the network protocol architecture, where the potential security threats are discussed at each protocol layer. We also provide a survey of the existing security protocols and algorithms that are adopted in the existing wireless network standards, such as the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and the long-term evolution (LTE) systems. Then, we discuss the state-of-the-art in physical-layer security, which is an emerging technique of securing the open communications environment against eavesdropping attacks at the physical layer. We also introduce the family of various jamming attacks and their counter-measures, including the constant jammer, intermittent jammer, reactive jammer, adaptive jammer and intelligent jammer. Additionally, we discuss the integration of physical-layer security into existing authentication and cryptography mechanisms for further securing wireless networks. Finally, some technical challenges which remain unresolved at the time of writing are summarized and the future trends in wireless security are discussed.Comment: 36 pages. Accepted to Appear in Proceedings of the IEEE, 201