Analyzing the Performance of Spectrum Sensing Algorithms for IEEE 802.11 af Standard in Cognitive Radio Network*

Tanuja S. Dhope (Shendkar), Dina Simunic, Antun Kerner

Abstract

In the entire world the wireless communication systems are represented by 2G and 3G systems with all stages of evolution towards 4G systems. The complexity of wireless networks requires a careful design, especially related to bandwidth and energy efficiency. Bandwidth efficiency is very important parameter, because it relates to frequency spectrum, which is a natural limited resource. The cognitive radio has been proposed as the future technology to meet the ever increasing demand of the radio spectrum by allocating the spectrum dynamically to allow unlicensed access on non-interfering basis. The digital dividend of 700MHz band (mainly used by TV broadcast services) opens the door for cognitive radio applications due to its excellent propagation characteristics compared to GSM 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz or 2.5 GHz bands. In cognitive radio, spectrum sensing is the fundamental problem. In this paper we are analyzing the performance of spectrum sensing algorithms; energy detection and covariance absolute value utilizing TV white space for IEEE 802.11 af standard.

---

* A shorter version of this paper has been submitted to the 35th Jubilee International Convention MIPRO 2012, May 2012, under the title “Hybrid Detection Method for Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio”[17] and further a modified version of this paper has also been submitted to the same scientific event under the title “Performance Analysis of Covariance Based Detection in Cognitive Radio”[19].

Keywords

energy detection, covariance based detection, fading channels, spectrum sensing, cognitive radio, IEEE 802.11af.

View full article