Spectrum Opportunity Detection: How Good Is Listen-before-Talk?

Abstract

We consider spectrum opportunity detection in cognitive radio networks for spectrum overlay. We highlight the differences between detecting primary signals and detecting spectrum opportunities. We show that besides noise and fading, the geographic distribution and traffic pattern of primary users have significant impact on the performance of spectrum opportunity detection. A necessary and sufficient condition for the equivalence between primary signal detection and spectrum opportunity detection is obtained, and the performance of listen-before-talk in a Poisson primary network with uniform traffic pattern is analyzed. Furthermore, we study the translation from the physical layer opportunity detection performance to the MAC layer performance. This issue is crucial in examining the impact of sensing errors on the design of higher layers and in choosing the optimal operating characteristics of the spectrum sensor. We demonstrate the complex dependency of the relationship between PHY and MAC on the applications and the use of MAC handshaking signaling such as RTS/CTS.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA575928

Entities

People

  • Ananthram Swami
  • Qing Zhao
  • Wei Ren

Organizations

  • University of California

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cognitive Radio
  • Collisions
  • Data Transmission
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Engineering
  • False Alarms
  • Geographic Distribution
  • Military Research
  • Networks
  • Probability
  • Signal Detection
  • Spectra
  • Throughput
  • Translations
  • Transmitters
  • Warning Systems

Readers

  • Computer Networking
  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Radio communications and signal processing.