CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 OVERVIEW OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

Wireless communication has gained wide popularity in the recent years.

From cellular voice telephony to wireless access to the internet and wireless home
networking, wireless networks have a profound impact on our lifestyle. The
evolution of wireless communication system demand high-data-rate service and
ubiquitous coverage.

Radio spectrum has become the most valuable resource of the modern era
due to the developments in wireless technologies. Unlicensed bands such as ISM
(Industrial, Scientific, and Medical radio bands) and UNII (Unlicensed National
Information Infrastructure radio bands) play an important role due to the fact that
many of the significant revolutions have originated in these bands.

1.2 MOTIVATION FOR DYNAMIC SPECTRUM ACCESS

The transition from voice-only communication to multimedia application has

increased the need for high-data-rate. Due to the limitation of the natural frequency
spectrum, the conventional static frequency allocation schemes are unable to
accommodate the increase in high-data-rate devices. Hence, innovative techniques
to maximize the utilization of the available spectrum are needed.
 

Shared Spectrum Company conducted spectrum occupancy measurements

on the bands between 30 MHz and 3 GHz at six locations in the U.S. in 2004[1]. It
is observed from this, that the average occupancy over the locations was found to be
only 5.2 % with the maximum occupancy 13.1 % in New York City and minimum
occupancy 1 % in a rural area. The occupancy was defined as the fraction measured
in time and frequency dimensions where the received signal strength exceeds a
threshold. Figure 1.1 shows the occupancy of spectrum upto 6 GHz in an urban area.
for fixed spectrum utilization scheme [21], taken at mid-day with 20 kHz resolution
taken over a time span of 50 microseconds with a 30 degree directional antenna.

Figure 1.1 Fixed Spectrum Utilization Measurements below 6 GHz

The actual measurement shows that most of the allocated spectrum is vastly
under-utilized, with utilization ranging from 15% to 85% in the bands below 3 GHz
at any specific location and time. At frequencies above 3GHz, the actual utilization
is dramatically lower. The dynamic spectrum access technique will overcome the
spectrum underutilization problem caused by fixed spectrum allocation scheme.
 

1.3 SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO (SDR)

SDR is defined as: "Radio in which some or all of the physical layer
functions are software defined [2]". A radio is any kind of device that wirelessly
transmits or receives signals in the Radio Frequency (RF) part of the
electromagnetic spectrum to facilitate the transfer of information. In today's world,
radios exist in a multitude of items such as cell phones, computers, car door openers,
vehicles and televisions.

SDR brings flexibility, cost efficiency and enormous benefits realized by

service providers and product developers through to end users. It is defined as a
collection of hardware and software technologies where some or all of the operating
functions of the radio (also referred to as physical layer processing) are implemented
through modifiable software or firmware operating on programmable processing
technologies. These devices include Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA),
Digital Signal Processors (DSP), General Purpose Processors (GPP), Programmable
System on Chip (SoC) or other application specific programmable processors [3].
The use of these technologies allows new wireless features and capabilities to be
added to the existing radio systems without requiring new hardware.

Traditional hardware based radio devices have limited cross-functionality

and can only be modified through physical intervention. This results in higher
production costs and minimal flexibility in supporting multiple waveform standards.
By contrast, it provides an efficient and comparatively inexpensive solution to this
problem, allowing multi-mode, multi-band and/or multi-functional wireless devices
that can be enhanced using software upgrades.

SDR is a reconfigurable wireless communication system in which the

transmission parameters like operating frequency, modulation code, wireless
protocol etc., can be controlled dynamically. This adjustability function is achieved
by software-controlled signal processing algorithms.
 

SDR is a rapidly evolving technology that receives enormous recognition

and generating widespread interest in the telecommunication industry. Over the last
few years, analog radio systems are being replaced by digital radio systems for
various radio applications in military, civilian and commercial space. In addition to
this, programmable hardware modules are increasingly being used in digital radio
systems at different functional levels. It aims to take advantage of these
programmable hardware modules to build open architecture-based radio system
software.

SDR facilitates implementation of some of the functional modules in a radio

system such as modulation/demodulation, signal generation, coding and link-layer
protocols in software. This helps in building reconfigurable software radio systems
where dynamic selection of parameters for each of the above mentioned functional
modules is possible. A complete hardware-based radio system has limited utility
since parameters for each of the functional modules are fixed. A radio system built
with SDR capability extends the utility of the system for a wide range of
applications that use different link-layer protocols and modulation/demodulation
techniques.

1.4 COGNITIVE RADIO (CR)

Commercial wireless communication industry is currently facing problems

due to constant evolution of link-layer protocol standards (2.5G, 3G, and 4G),
existence of incompatible wireless network technologies in different countries
inhibiting deployment of global roaming facilities and problems in rolling-out new
services/features due to wide-spread presence of legacy subscriber handsets.

SDR promises to solve these problems by implementing the radio

functionality as software modules running on a generic hardware platform. Further,
multiple software modules implementing different standards can be present in the
radio system [4]. The system can take up different features depending on the
software module being used. Also, the software modules that implement new
services/features can be downloaded over-the-air onto the handsets. This kind of
 

flexibility offered by SDR systems helps in dealing with problems arising from
differing standards and issues related to deployment of new services/features. SDR
is a key element for implementing cognitive radios.

CR arises to be a tempting solution to the spectral congestion problem by

introducing opportunistic usage of the frequency bands that are not heavily occupied
by licensed users. The definition adopted by FCC[5]: Cognitive radio: A radio or
system that senses its operational electromagnetic environment and can dynamically
and autonomously adjust its radio operating parameters to modify system operation,
such as maximize throughput, mitigate interference, facilitate interoperability,
access secondary markets. Hence, the main aspect of CR is related to autonomously
exploiting a locally unused spectrum to provide new paths to spectrum access.

Although CR is initially thought of as a SDR extension (Full Cognitive

Radio), most of the current research work is currently focusing on spectrum sensing,
particularly in the TV bands [6]. The essential problem of spectrum sensing is in
designing high quality spectrum sensing devices and algorithms for exchanging
spectrum-sensing data between nodes. The simple energy detector cannot guarantee
the accurate detection of signal presence, calling for more sophisticated spectrum
sensing techniques and requiring information about spectrum sensing to be
exchanged between nodes regularly. Increase in the number of cooperating sensing
nodes decreases the probability of false detection [7].

One of the most important components of the CR concept is the ability to

measure, sense, learn and be aware of the parameters related to the radio channel
characteristics, availability of spectrum and power, operating environment of the
radio, user requirements and applications, available networks and nodes, local
policies and other operating restrictions. In cognitive radio terminology, primary
users (PU) can be defined as the users who have higher priority or legacy rights on
the usage of a specific part of the spectrum. On the other hand, secondary users
(SU), who have lower priority, exploit this spectrum in such a way that they do not
cause interference to PU. Therefore, SU need to have CR capabilities, such as
sensing of the spectrum reliably to check whether it is being used by a PU and also
 

to change the radio parameters to exploit the unused part of the spectrum. Being the
focus of this research, spectrum sensing is the most important component for the
establishment of CR .

The goal of cognitive radio is envisioned as the end of a progression through

stages in which radio systems become increasingly intelligent and capable. In
cognitive radio, successive stages are Aware and Adaptive.

Aware: Radios sense characteristics of their RF, physical, or user

environment, consolidate this information, and use them for providing some service
to the user. The information may be displayed directly to the user (signal strength,
time of day, network loading) or even shared with other radios, but plays no
significant role in optimizing the communications performance of the radio system,
except through user intervention.

Adaptive: Adaptive radios use information sensed from their environment to

modify aspects of the behaviour of their communication, so as to optimize their
communication performance. Examples include changing frequency, bandwidth,
modulation scheme, code rate, data rate, or transmit power; a frequency hopping
system might change hop set frequencies in order to eliminate blocked channels
from the hop set. The key element causing these adaptive behaviours is that they
occur in response to environmental information, rather than being merely scheduled
or operator-initiated.

Cognitive radios add to mere adaptation the elements of a cognitive system,

such as having and maintaining a model of the environment that includes state and
memory, a capability to learn, and a degree of autonomy in action. Published
descriptions of this level of capability are quite aggressive in invoking concepts and
criteria from bleeding-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) research [8], which might
elicit skeptical reactions from radio system engineers needing to develop fit-for-use
systems within schedule and budget constraints.


It seems likely that simpler approaches to knowledge representation and

machine inference may suffice to realize less ambitious and more domain-restricted
forms of intelligent behaviour. One commonly-applied test for cognitive systems is
their ability to creatively generate novel and unexpected behaviour. It is not clear as
to whether such creative behaviour is desirable in radios, using a limited, shared
public resource; for this reason, most proposed cognitive radio architectures provide
for some internal representation of regulatory policy constraints to be applied to
radio behaviour. In practice, there can be difficulty in defining an uncontroversial
principled boundary between adaptation and learning.

1.4.1 Cognition cycle

The cognitive capability of a CR enables realtime interaction with its

environment to determine the appropriate communication parameters and adapt to
the dynamic radio environment. The tasks required for adaptive operation in an open
spectrum are referred to as the cognition cycle. Figure 1.2 is a pictorial
representation of cognition cycle. The main steps in the cognition cycle are spectrum
sensing, spectrum analysis, spectrum decision and adaptation [9].

Figure 1.2 Cognition cycle

Spectrum Sensing: A CR monitors the available spectrum bands, captures

information from that available spectrum bands, and then take decision about the
spectrum holes (unused spectrum). Figure 1.3 is an illustration of the spectrum
holes. Spectrum hole is unused spectrum by primary user by over a time, frequency
and geographical area.


Figure: 1.3 Illustration of spectrum holes

Spectrum Analysis: Analysis of the characteristics of the spectrum holes [14] that
are detected through spectrum sensing are estimated.

Spectrum Decision: A CR determines the data rate, transmission mode, and

bandwidth of the transmission. The appropriate spectrum band is then chosen
according to the RF characteristics and user requirements.

1.5 PHYSICAL ARCHITECTURE OF COGNITIVE RADIO

The novel characteristic of CR transceiver is the wideband sensing capability

of the RF frontend. This function is mainly related to RF hardware technologies
such as wideband antenna, power amplifier and adaptive filter. Figure 1.4 shows the
generic physical architecture of cognitive radio. RF hardware for the CR should be
capable of tuning to any part of a large range of frequency spectrum. Also, such
spectrum sensing enables realtime measurements of spectrum information from a
radio environment [10].
 

Figure 1.4 Generic physical architecture of cognitive radio

The RF Filter selects the desired band by bandpass filtering the received RF
signal. Then the LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) amplifies the received signal while
minimizing the noise component. The mixer combines the received signal with local
RF frequency (generated by Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO)) to create an
intermediate frequency (IF). The channel selection filter is used for selecting the
desired channel and rejecting the adjacent channels. The Automatic Gain Control
(AGC) is used to maintain the gain or output power level constant over a wide range
of input signals. The key challenge for the physical architecture of the CR is the
accurate detection of weak signals of licensed users over a wide spectrum range.

1.6 FUNCTIONS OF COGNITIVE RADIO

The primary functions of cognitive radio [11] are dynamic spectrum

allocation using spectrum sensing to detect and negotiate the usage of the incumbent
spectrum. In general, the functions of CR are classified as (i) Spectrum sensing (ii)
Spectrum management (iii) Spectrum mobility (iv)Spectrum sharing. Figure 1.5
shows the various function of CR.
 

Figure 1.5 Illustration of CR functions

1.6.1 Spectrum sensing

Spectrum sensing is one of the most important components of the

establishment of cognitive radio networks. Spectrum sensing is the task of obtaining
awareness of the spectrum usage and existence of primary users in a geographical
area. This awareness can be obtained by using geo-location and database, by using
beacons, or by local spectrum sensing at cognitive radios. When beacons are used,
the transmitted information can be the occupancy of a spectrum as well as other
advanced features such as channel quality. Spectrum sensing is traditionally
understood as measuring the spectral content, or measuring the radio frequency
energy over the spectrum, when cognitive radio is considered, it is a more general
term that involves obtaining the spectrum usage characteristics across multiple
dimensions such as time, space, frequency, and code. It also involves determining
what types of signals are occupying the spectrum including the modulation,
waveform, bandwidth, carrier frequency, etc. However, this requires more powerful
signal analysis techniques.
 

The essential problem of spectrum sensing in CR is designing high quality

spectrum sensing devices and algorithms for exchanging spectrum sensing data
between nodes. It has been shown that a simple energy detector cannot guarantee the
accurate detection of signal presence, calling for more sophisticated spectrum
sensing techniques and requiring information on spectrum sensing to be exchanged
between nodes regularly. Increasing the number of cooperating sensing nodes
decreases the probability of false detection.

1.6.2 Spectrum management

It captures the best available spectrum to meet the user communication

requirements. CR should decide on the best spectrum band to meet the Quality of
Service(QoS) requirements over all available spectrum bands. Hence, spectrum
management functions are required for CR.

1.6.3 Spectrum mobility

Mobility is defined as the process when a CR user exchanges its frequency

of operation. CR networks target the use of the spectrum in a dynamic manner by
allowing the radio terminals to operate in the best available frequency band,
maintaining seamless communication requirements during the transition to better
spectrum.

1.6.4 Spectrum sharing

Sharing will provide the fair spectrum scheduling method. One of the major
challenges in open spectrum usage is the spectrum sharing. It can be regarded to be
similar to generic media access control MAC problems in existing systems

1.7 COGNITIVE RADIO APPLICATIONS

A more flexible and efficient use of the spectrum in the future opens up
exciting opportunities for cognitive radio to enable and support a variety of
 

emerging applications, ranging from smart grid, public safety and broadband
cellular, to medical applications [12].

1.7.1 Smart grid networks

Cognitive-radio-based Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) or Field

Area Networks (FAN) may offer many advantages such as bandwidth, distance and
cost, as compared with other wireline/wireless technologies in certain markets.
Figure 1.6 illustrates the CR-based wide area AMI/FAN. In this case, the network
gateway and smart meters are equipped with CR and dynamically utilize
unused/underutilized spectrum to communicate with each other directly or via mesh
networking over a wide area with minimal or no infrastructure. The network
gateway connects with a spectrum database over a Wide Area Networks (WAN) and
serves as the controller to determine which channel(s) to use for the AMI/FAN
based on the location and transmission power needed for smart meters.

Figure 1.6 Smart grid networks

Like other unlicensed devices, CR-enabled AMI/FAN devices are not

immune to interference or congestion, especially if they are heterogeneous and not
coordinated with each other. This may introduce issues such as reliability and delay,
and limit the applicability of unlicensed devices to more critical grid control or real-
time smart grid applications. CR-enabled AMI/FANs should go beyond just the
dynamic spectrum access and develop self-coexistence mechanisms to coordinate
spectrum usage, and may even prioritize spectrum use according to the class of
 

smart grid traffic (e.g., real-time vs. non-real-time, emergency report vs. demand
response). The IEEE 802.19.1 Working Group (WG) is currently working on
developing a standard for wireless coexistence in the TV white space (TVWS) and
may help mitigate interference issues among CR-based AMI/FANs. Furthermore,
CR-enabled AMI/FANs should also consider the interpolation with other wireless
technologies such as wireless cellular networks in order to make the smart grid more
resilient, scalable, and accessible for better quality.

1.7.2 Public safety networks

Cognitive radio Network is used for an emerging technology to improve the

efficiency and effectiveness of spectrum usage in both National Emergency
Communications Plan (NECP) report released by Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), USA and the National Broadband Plan (NBP). With CR, public safety users
can use additional spectrum such as license-exempt TVWS for daily operation from
location to location and time to time.

Figure 1.7 Public safety networks

 

CR devices can communicate directly with one another by switching to

common interface and frequency. Furthermore, with the help of multi-interface or
SDR, CR can serve as the facilitator of communications for other devices which
may operate in different bands and/or have incompatible wireless interfaces. From
figure 1.7, such CR devices (communication facilitators) can be located in a few
powerful emergency responders vehicles and wireless access points. This lifts the
burden off the handheld devices for each to have CR capability to mitigate the issue
that different emergency responders may use different radios today and very likely
in the future as well.

CR technologies will support priority delivery and routing of content through

its own network as well as public networks, thus protecting time-sensitive life-
saving information from loss or delay due to network congestion. This goes beyond
spectrum awareness to content awareness, from the physical layer (PHY) to the
application layer

1.7.3 Cellular networks

The use of cellular networks is undergoing dramatic changes in recent years,

with consumers expectations of being always connected, anywhere and anytime.
The introduction of smart phones, the popularity of social networks, growing media
sites such as Youtube and flickr etc, introduction of new devices such as e-readers,
have all added to the already high and growing use of cellular networks for
conventional data services such as email and web-browsing. This trend is also
identified in the FCCs visionary NBP. This presents both an opportunity and a
challenge for cellular operators. The opportunity is due to the increased average
revenue per user due to added data services. At the same time, the challenge is that
in certain geographical areas, cellular networks are overloaded, due partly to limited
spectrum resources owned by the cellular operator. A recent analysis suggests that
the broadband spectrum deficit is likely to approach 300 MHz by 2014, and that,
making available additional spectrum for mobile broadband would create value in
excess of $100 billion in the next five years through avoidance of unnecessary costs.
 

With the FCCs TVWS ruling, new spectrum becomes available to cellular
operators. In the long-term, television band spectrum that is currently not described
as white spaces may also become available to cellular operators, as discussed in the
NBP. Specifically, the plan discusses the possibility for current license holders of
television spectrum to voluntarily auction their licenses, in return for part of the
proceeds from the auction. The plan envisions that this newly free spectrum could be
used for cellular broadband applications.

Figure 1.8 Cellular networks

Figure 1.8 illustrates how cognitive radio technologies can augment next
generation cellular networks like Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) to dynamically use these newly
available spectrums either in the access or backhaul parts of their networks. A
 

spectrum coordinator can be added in the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) to allow

cellular networks to dynamically lease spectrum from spectrum markets and/or
identify secondary license exempt spectrum opportunities to meet the cellular traffic
demand given a location and time period. The Base Stations (BS) configures
channels to operate according to the instructions of the spectrum coordinator and
aggregate the spectrum for use.

1.7.4 Wireless medical networks

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the implementation of

ubiquitous monitoring of patients in hospitals for vital signs such as temperature,
pressure, blood oxygen, and Electro-Cardio-Gram (ECG). Normally, these vitals are
monitored by on-body sensors that are then connected by wires to a bedside monitor.
The Medical Body Area Network (MBAN) is a promising solution for eliminating
these wires, thus allowing sensors to reliably and inexpensively collect multiple
parameters simultaneously and relay the monitoring information wirelessly so that
clinicians can respond rapidly. Introduction of MBANs for wireless patient
monitoring is an essential component to improving patient outcomes and lowering
healthcare costs. Through low-cost wireless devices, universal patient monitoring
can be extended to the most, if not all, patients in many hospitals. With such
ubiquitous monitoring, changes in a patients condition can be recognized at an early
stage and appropriate action taken. By getting rid of wires and their management,
the associated risks of infection are reduced using MBANs.

MBAN communication is limited to transmission of data (voice is excluded)

used for monitoring, diagnosing, or treating patients. MBAN operation is permitted
by either healthcare professionals or authorized personnel under license by rule.
There are a number of mechanisms for MBAN devices to access spectrum on a
secondary basis while protecting incumbents and providing a safe medical
implementation. An unrestricted contention-based protocol such as Listen Before
Talk (LBT) is proposed for channel access. A geographical protection zone along
with an electronic key (e-key) MBAN device control mechanism is further used to
limit MBAN transmissions. The e-key device control is used to ensure that MBAN
 

devices can access 23602390 MHz frequency band only when they are within the
confines of a hospital facility that is outside the protection zone of Aeronautical
Mobile Telemetry (AMT) sites.

Figure 1.9 Medical body area networks.

Figure 1.9 illustrates both in-hospital and out of- hospital solutions for using
23602390 MHz. Any hospital that plans to use the AMT spectrum for an MBAN
has to register with an MBAN coordinator, which coordinator determines the
presence of a registered hospital within protection zones of AMT sites (with possible
coordination with primary users). If a hospital is outside protection zones, the
MBAN coordinator will issue an e-key specifically for that hospital to enable
MBAN devices within that hospital to access AMT spectrum. Without a valid e-key,
by default MBAN devices can only use the 23902400 MHz band. The distribution
of e-keys to MBAN devices that are connected to the hospital IT network can be
done automatically either through wired or wireless links.
 

1.8 COGNITIVE RADIO STANDARDIZATION

IEEE 802.22 is a new wireless technology to support data communication

with a large coverage area. Figure 1.10 shows the architecture of CR based on
IEEE 802.22 [13-15]. This technology operates on TV bands which are largely
occupied. However, dynamic spectrum is applied with a view to ensure that the
IEEE 802.22 devices do not interfere with the incumbent services.

Figure 1.10 IEEE 802.22 Architecture of Cognitive Radio

 

The activity involving the definition of CRs is currently performed in the

802.22 WGs, while the activity to specify components of a CR is currently
performed in 802.21, 802.22, and 802.19 WGs. The draft standard P802.22 is
entitled Draft Standard for Wireless Regional Area Networks Part 22: Cognitive
Wireless RAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)
Specifications: Policies and Procedures for Operation in the TV Bands.

It specifies the air interface including the cognitive MAC and PHY, of point-
to-multipoint wireless regional area networks, comprising of a professionally
installed fixed base station with fixed and portable user terminals operating in the
unlicensed Very High Frequency/ Ultra High Frequency (VHF/UHF) TV broadcast
bands between 54 MHz and 862 MHz (TV white space). The IEEE 802.11y
standard is entitled IEEE Standard for Information Technology
Telecommunications and Information Exchange between Systems - Local and
Metropolitan Area Networks(LANMAN)- Specific Requirements - Part 11: Wireless
LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and PHY Specifications - Amendment 3:
36503700 MHz Operation in USA. This standard defines the mechanisms (e.g.,
new regulatory classes, transmit power control, and dynamic frequency selection)
for 802.11 to share frequency bands with other users [19]

1.9 SPECTRUM SENSING ISSUES

Spectrum sensing gives rise to several physical and MAC layer research
issues [16-17]. While the physical layer issues are mostly related to signal
processing, the MAC layer issues are related to optimization of spectrum sensing.

1.9.1 Sensing interference limit

One objective of spectrum sensing is to obtain the status of the spectrum, so

that the spectrum can be accessed by an unlicensed user interference constraint. The
challenge lies in the interference measurement at the licensed receiver caused by
transmission from unlicensed users.
 

1.9.2 Spectrum sensing in multiuser networks

Multiple users, both licensed and unlicensed, may share the radio spectrum
in a network. Also multiple networks can coexist for which transmission in one
network may interfere with transmission in other networks. In such a case,
coordinated and cooperative spectrum sensing would be preferred since it can detect
the spectrum access status by licensed users in different locations in the network.
The spectrum sensing information can be used to obtain a spectrum map which can
be utilized by the unlicensed users to make spectrum access decisions.

1.9.3 Optimizing the period of spectrum sensing

In spectrum sensing, a longer observation period will increase the accuracy

of the spectrum sensing result. However, during sensing, a single radio wireless
transceiver cannot transmit in the same frequency band. Consequently, a longer
observation period will result in lower system throughput. If the accuracy of
spectrum sensing is low, collision and interference to the transmission by licensed
users could occur to degrade the performance of both licensed and unlicensed users.
This performance trade-off can be optimized to achieve an optimal spectrum sensing
solution. Optimal solution can be obtained by applying suitable classical
optimization techniques.

1.9.4 Spectrum sensing in multichannel networks

Multichannel transmission (OFDM based transmission) would be typical in a

cognitive radio network. However, the number of available channels would be larger
than that of available interfaces at the radio transceiver. Therefore, only a fraction
of the available channels can be sensed simultaneously. Selection of the channels to
be sensed will affect the performance of the system. For spectrum sensing, the
presence of a channel which is mostly occupied by the licensed user(s) should be
less than a channel which is occupied occasionally. In a multichannel environment,
selection of the channels should be optimized for spectrum sensing to achieve the
 

optimal system performance under hardware constraints at the cognitive radio

receiver.

1.10 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH WORK

The main objective of this research work is to maximize the efficiency of the
spectrum sensing by using efficient energy detection algorithm for non-cooperative
and cooperative spectrum sensing technique. Also, for cooperative spectrum
sensing, the system performance may be improved by cluster based cooperative
spectrum sensing and fuzzy based energy efficient cluster head selection. The
research objectives are:

Using an energy efficient spectrum sensing technique for non-cooperative

Cognitive Radio Network (CRN)
To maximize the capacity by minimizing the outage probability.
To optimize the sensing time for maximizing the spectrum utilization.
To enhance the performance of CRN for cooperative spectrum sensing
technique using clustering architecture.
To improve the lifetime of the CRN using cluster based spectrum sensing
technique with fuzzy logic system with LEACH-C based system.

1.11 LITERATURE REVIEW

Mitola and Maguire (1999) have proposed a novel technology called

Cognitive Radio [6].which extends the software radio to radio-domain model based
reasoning. It enhances the flexibility of personal services through a Radio
Knowledge and the knowledge of radio devices, software module, propagation,
networks and users needs.

Matthew Sherman et al. (2008) have reviewed completed and on-going

standards activities of interest for cognitive radio within IEEE [14]. They are also
considered future directions and standardization areas for cognitive radio
technology.
 

Q. Zhao et. al. (2007) have presented an approach to decentralized MAC for
ad hoc OSA networks [18]. A novel feature of this work is the exploitation of
opportunities at the slot level, allowing low rate applications to coexist with primary
users. The framework of Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP)
makes the MAC cognitive, enabling an opportunistic user to make optimal decisions
for sensing and access based on the belief vector that summarizes the knowledge of
the network state based on all past decisions and observations. Their formulation
also allows the integration of sensing errors and other practical impairments into the
POMDP modelling.

Y. Chen et. al. (2006) have discussed a cross-layer approach to Opportunistic

Spectrum Access (OSA) design [19]. By jointly optimizing the spectrum sensor at
the physical layer and the sensing/access policies at the MAC layer, they have
developed the optimal OSA strategy, that maximizes the throughput of the
secondary user under a constraint on the collision probability perceived by the
primary users network. By exploiting the rich structure of the problem, established a
separation principle for the optimal joint design, which decouples the design of
spectrum sensor and access policy from that of sensing policy. They have studied
the impact of sensor operating characteristics on the access policy and the trade-off
between false alarm and miss detection in spectrum opportunity identification. They
observed that miss detection is more harmful to the performance of OSA than false
alarm.

Codeiro Challapali et. al. (2006) have analyzed the IEEE 802.22 standard on
wireless air interface standard-based on CR [20]. They have mentioned
IEEE 802.22 System topology, service capacity, service coverage, specification of
PHY and MAC layers, and coexistence techniques. The CR will be operated in the
TV bands, make use of techniques such as spectrum sensing, incumbent detection
and avoidance, spectrum management to achieve effective coexistence and radio
resource sharing with existing licensed services.

Broderson, R. W et.al., (2004) have presented Cognitive Radio approach for

the usage of Virtual Unlicensed Spectrum (CORVUS) [21], a vision of a CR based
 

approach that uses the allocated spectrum in a opportunistic manner to create

virtual unlicensed bands i.e. bands that are shared with the primary (often
licensed) users on a non-interfering basis. Dynamic spectrum management
techniques are used to adapt to immediate local spectrum availability. The author
defines the system requirements for this approach, as well as the general architecture
and basic physical and link layer functions of CORVUS.

Tevfik Yucek et al(2009) have analyzed the various spectrum sensing

schemes [22]. Various aspects of the spectrum sensing task are explained. Several
sensing methods are studied and collaborative sensing is considered. Pro-active
approaches are given and sensing methods employed in current wireless systems are
discussed.

Xuping and Jianguo (2009) have investigated the energy detection technique
for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio systems [23]. The detection performance and
the impact of the noise uncertainty on the detection probability are analyzed
theoretically.In order to deal with the hidden terminal problem and the local
spectrum sensing in wireless signal detections, a distributed M cooperative sensing
scheme is proposed. Through analysis and simulation, it is shown that the benefit of
the proposed scheme is increasing the agility of cognitive radio systems. With small
tradeoffs between the detection probability and the false alarm probability, the
proposed scheme improved the spectrum sensing ability under low SNR values.

B. Picinbono and P. Duvaut (1988) have proposed a solution for the problem
of optimal linear-quadratic systems for PU detection [24]. Since then, many aspects
of this problem have been considered, but always under the Gaussian assumption.
But, the authors have ignored the Gaussian assumption, and a complete solution is
presented for an arbitrary probability distribution with finite fourth-order moments.
The optimal solution can always be obtained by solving equation of a linear system.
Some properties of the optimal systems are developed in the context of particular
examples of non-Gaussian noise. Finally, it is shown that there is a strong relation
between linear-quadratic optimal detection and optimal estimation, and this relation
extends results known for the purely linear case.
 

Tuan Do and Brian L. Mark (2010) have described a wireless system with
opportunistic spectrum sharing of radio spectrum by SUs, which is not being used
by PU [25]. On a given frequency channel, a secondary user can perform spectrum
sensing to determine spatial or temporal opportunities for spectrum reuse. Whereas
most prior works address either spatial or temporal sensing in isolation, here they
have proposed a joint spatialtemporal spectrum-sensing scheme that exploits
information from spatial sensing to improve the performance of temporal sensing.
They quantify the performance benefit of the joint spatialtemporal scheme over
pure temporal sensing based on linear quadratic detectors.

A.H Nuttall, (1975) derived [26] the generalized Marcum Q function. Some
integrals are presented that can be expressed in terms of the Q m with help of Bessal
function of the order m-1. Some integrals of the Qm function are also evaluated

Danijela Cabric (2006) has implemented energy detector-based spectrum

sensing on a wireless testbed and measured the required sensing time, to achieve the
desired probability of detection and false alarm for modulated and sine wave-pilot
signals in low SNR regime [27]. The minimum detectable signal levels set by the
receiver noise uncertainties are measured. Also, identified the robust threshold rule
for hard decision combining and quantified the effects of spatial separation between
radios in indoor environments for cooperative spectrum sensing technique.

Pei, Hoang and Liang (2007) have formulated a collision-throughput

trade-off problem based on the sensing time requirement and the traffic pattern of
primary users [28]. The optimal value for the frame duration of cognitive radio
operation has been found to maximize the throughput of the cognitive radio
network, yet the collision probability of the primary users is not greater than a
threshold and also proposed optimal solution for frame duration for achieve
maximum throughput.

Gao,.et.al., (2007) have analyzed the capacity limits achieved by the

secondary users [29]. The achievable capacity limit per user is studied under
different constraints and interference scenarios. In order to minimize the impact on
 

PU, the instantaneous interference power from Secondary User to Primary User
should be limited. The result shows that the additional limit on the Secondary User
transmit power to 27 dBm results in a 10% drop in channel capacity, whereas
treating Primary User interference as additive Gaussian noise results in a 50%
capacity drop. The effects on the capacity by Primary User channel occupancy,
location of secondary user cell, and Lognormal fading spread are also studied. The
average channel capacity is rather insensitive to secondary cell locations. A
significant capacity gain can be achieved when primary user channel occupancy
drops from 50% to 10% or the standard deviation of log normal fading decreases
from 8 to 4 dB.

Quan et.al. (2008) have proposed an optimal linear cooperation framework

for spectrum sensing in order to accurately detect the weak primary signal [30]. The
spectrum sensing is based on the linear combination of local statistics from
individual cognitive radios. The objective is to minimize the interference to the
primary radio while meeting the requirement of opportunistic spectrum utilization
and formulated the sensing problem as a nonlinear optimization function.

EI-Saleh .et.al. (2009) have defined the twin effects of varying the entire
frame duration and sensing time duration [31]. They also show that the cognitive
radio network capacity can be maximized through an appropriate selection of total
frame duration and an optimized corresponding sensing time.

Wenjing Yue and Baoyu Zheng (2009) have proposed a complementary fine
spectrum-sensing algorithm that has adopted one-order cyclo-stationary properties
of primary users signals in time domain [32]. This feature detection technique in
time domain realizes simple and low computational complexity compared to the
spectral feature detection methods. Also, it drastically reduces hardware burdens and
power consumption as opposed to two-order feature detection.

Shridhar Mubaraq Mishra (2006) has suggested cooperative spectrum

sensing among multiple users which may be the only mechanism to achieve a target
system-level probability of detection, when each SUs unable to detect the presence
 

of PU under low SNR received by the SUs [33]. When correlation is distance-
dependent, cooperation is desired among more distant users. Increasing the number
of users in a distance-dependent correlated setting is asymptotically limited by the
cooperation footprint. Even so, trust is critical for such a cooperative systems to
operate reliably. As a rule of thumb, if one out of every N number of user is
untrustworthy, then the sensitivity of an individual receiver may not be reduced
below what is possible with N number of trusted users.

Ghurumuruhan Ganesan and Ye Geoffrey Li(2007) have discussed the

benefits of cooperative spectrum sensing by increasing the agility of cognitive radio
networks [34]. They have considered a simple two user cooperative cognitive
network and showed improvement in agility by exploiting the inherent asymmetry.
They have analyzed two schemes such as non-cooperative and totally cooperative
users. They have also shown that cooperation between cognitive radio users
increases the overall agility of the network. They have considered a practical
scenario, where the cognitive users are randomly distributed. They have developed a
decentralized cooperation protocol which ensures agility gain for arbitrarily large
cognitive population.

Mosleh et al.(2009) have made a theoretical analysis of the performance of

the fusion center and obtained the conditions for the fusion center to achieve an
overall probability of detection, that is greater than the local probability of detection
of each sensor and showed that the AND, OR and Majority decision fusion rules are
the special cases of the Neyman Pearson (N-P) fusion rule [35].

J. Unnikrishnan and V. V. Veeravalli (2007) have discussed the problem of

decentralized detection when the observations are dependent and conditioned on the
hypothesis [36]. They have proposed a suboptimal detection technique, which
optimizes a deflection metric in the class of linear-quadratic detection. From
simulations, it is inferred that when the observations are correlated, the deflection-
optimal detector outperforms the detector that ignores the correlation information
completely. Detection performance can be improved substantially by using a
 

deflection-based linear quadratic detection that requires statistical knowledge of

only up to the fourth order under H0 and second order under H1.

Li Bian and Qi Zhu(2009) have described cooperative spectrum sensing.[37]

It enables a Cognitive Radio network to reliably detect the presence primary users
and avoid causing interference to primary users communication, and data fusion
technique is a key component of it. When the number of Cognitive Radio users
tends to be large, the bandwidth for reporting the results of their sensing to the
fusion center will be very enormous. To minimize the report channel bandwidth,
censoring schemes based on AND rule and OR rule for cooperative spectrum
sensing are proposed to decrease the average number of sensing bits to the fusion
center. Consequently, there is an efficient saving of the bandwidth. The performance
of spectrum sensing is investigated for perfect reporting channels, imperfect
reporting channels with same bit error, imperfect reporting channels with different
bit error, and the close formulations are presented.

V.V.Veeravalli and J.F. Chamberland (2003) have described about a binary

decentralized detection problem in which a network of wireless sensors provides
relevant information about the state of nature to a fusion centre is investigated [38].
Each sensor transmits its data over a multiple access channel. Upon receipt of the
information, the fusion centre attempts an accurate reconstruction of the state of
nature. They consider a scenario, where the sensor network is constrained by the
capacity of the wireless channel over which the sensors transmit, and study the
structure of an optimal sensor configuration. For the problem of detecting
deterministic signals in additive Gaussian noise, they show a set of identical binary
sensors which is asymptotically optimal, as the number of observations per sensor
goes to infinity. Thus, the gain offered by having more sensors exceeds the benefits
of getting detailed information from each sensor.

M. Kam et. al. (1992) have developed the optimal data fusion rule for
correlated local binary decisions, in terms of the conditional correlation coefficients
of all orders [39]. They have proved that when all these coefficients are zero, the
rule coincides with the original Chair-Varshney design. They have calculated the
 

optimal data fusion rule for n binary sensors using the Bahadur-Lazarsfeld
expansion of probability density functions. In the most general case they need to
estimate 2 (2" - n - 1) Correlation coefficients in order to obtain the optimal log
likelihood ratio test. The computation could be substantially simplified if most
correlation coefficients of the local decisions are zero, and when they are all zero,
they obtain optimal data fusion rule developed by Chair and Varshney for
independent local decisions.

B. Picinbono (1995) has characterized the performance of CR system by

receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves [40]. In order to reduce the
complexity of calculation of ROC curves, simpler performance criteria such as
deflection criterion or output signal-to-noise ratio is introduced. This criterion is
well adapted to design optimum systems for detection in the absence of a complete
knowledge of the statistical properties of the signal and the noise. This is especially
the case when this knowledge is limited to moments up-to a given order. There is no
formal relationship between optimum systems in terms of deflection and
performance evaluated with ROC curves. There are some statistical situations where
the use of L-Q systems, instead of only linear ones, can significantly improve the
detection performance with respect to the use of only linear systems even in the case
of deterministic signals. This improved performance is easily obtained in terms of
deflection criterion.

Junyang Shen et. al., (2009) have proposed optimal sensing time settings for
cooperative spectrum sensing to maximize the channel throughput under some
constraints on the interference to cognitive radio network [41]. They have
considered two scenarios. In the first scenario only one channel is sensed at one
time, and aimed at maximizing an individual channel capacity. The proposed
algorithm is used to calculate the optimal solution for the first scenario. In the
second scenario, multiple channels are jointly sensed simultaneously, and this
sensing method has maximized the overall channel capacity. It is proved that the
optimization problem in the second scenario can be converted into a convex-
optimization problem, which can be solved efficiently and reliably and shows a
 

significant improvement of the channel capacity by using the proposed optimal

cooperative spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks.

Hussain and Fernando (2009) have presented individual spectrum sensing

challenges such as a hidden terminal problem, shadowing, fading, and hardware
limitations [42]. They have also discussed the benefits from cooperative spectrum
sensing. A detailed review of up-to-date cooperative spectrum sensing techniques is
given with various sensing schemes. The authors have understood that cooperative
spectrum sensing can improve the cognitive radio network performance by
increasing spectrum efficiency and providing better detection accuracy.

Yue Wang et. al., (2007) have derived a closed form of expression of the
optimal fusion rule for cooperative spectrum sensing by performing the discrete
difference operation on the target function and analyzed the optimal area of joint
parameters selection for local spectrum sensing and also analyzed the effect of
different detecting channel conditions on the optimization for cooperative spectrum
sensing [43].

Long Wang et al.(2011) have made [44] survey about various clustering
strategy. They have reviewed as cooperative spectrum sensing can improve the
performance and reduce the computational cost.

Chen, T., Zhang et al. (2007) have proposed a cluster-based cooperative

spectrum sensing method to improve the sensing performance [45]. By grouping all
the secondary users into a few clusters and selecting the most favourable user in
each cluster to report to the common receiver, the proposed method can exploit the
user selection diversity so that sensing performance can be enhanced.

Heinzelman, W.R (2000) has proposed energy efficient communication

protocol named as Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) protocol
[46] -for microsensor network scheme using , and they also proposed (47) modified
LEACH protocol with centralized algorithm in 2002, is known as centralized Low
Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH-C) protocol, which can reduce the
power consumption and lifetime of the network improved significantly.
 

1.12 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

The organization of the thesis under various chapters is given below: The
entire simulation results in this research work are carried out using MATLAB
R2009a.

In Chapter 1, The principle of the CR, system descriptions, IEEE 802.22

reference architecture are presented. Functions, limitations of CR and spectrum
sensing techniques are discussed.

In Chapter 2, spectrum sensing technique for individual user using energy

detection method is analyzed. Secondary users capacity is maximized by
minimizing the outage probability method is proposed. The performance of this
proposed energy efficient spectrum sensing method is analyzed.

In Chapter 3, cluster based cooperative spectrum sensing method is

proposed to enhance the performance of CRN, in this, selection of cluster head is
based on the maximum received SNR and performance of the proposed cluster
based cognitive radio network is analyzed and compared with conventional method.

In Chapter 4, Fuzzy logic control algorithm is proposed for selection of

cluster head to improve the life time of the CRN and also compared its performance
with existing LEACH-C based system.

In Chapter 5, major conclusions of this research work are summarized. The

research contributions made in the area of spectrum sensing for both non-
cooperative and cooperative method are spelt out. At the end, the scope for future
work in this area is presented.