ProSpect: A Proactive Spectrum Handoff Framework for Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks without Common Control Channel

Cognitive Radio (CR) technology is a promising solution to enhance the spectrum utilization by enabling unlicensed users to exploit the spectrum in an opportunistic manner. Since unlicensed users are temporary visitors to the licensed spectrum, they are required to vacate the spectrum when a licensed user reclaims it. Due to the randomness of the appearance of licensed users, disruptions to both licensed and unlicensed communications are often difficult to prevent, which may lead to low throughput of both licensed and unlicensed communications. In this paper, a proactive spectrum handoff framework for CR ad hoc networks, ProSpect, is proposed to address these concerns. In the proposed framework, Channel-Switching (CW) policies and a proactive spectrum handoff protocol are proposed to let unlicensed users vacate a channel before a licensed user utilizes it to avoid unwanted interference. Network coordination schemes for unlicensed users are also incorporated into the spectrum handoff protocol design. Moreover, a distributed channel selection scheme to eliminate collisions among unlicensed users in a multiuser spectrum handoff scenario is proposed. In our proposed framework, unlicensed users coordinate with each other without using a Common Control Channel (CCC), which is highly adaptable in a spectrum-varying environment. We compare our proposed proactive spectrum handoff protocol with a reactive spectrum handoff protocol, under which unlicensed users switch channels after collisions with licensed transmissions occur. Simulation results show that our proactive spectrum handoff outperforms the reactive spectrum handoff approach in terms of higher throughput and fewer collisions to licensed users. Furthermore, our distributed channel selection can achieve higher packet delivery rate in a multiuser spectrum handoff scenario, compared with existing channel selection schemes.