Spectrum Sensing Optimization for Energy-Harvesting Cognitive Radio Systems

We consider an energy-harvesting cognitive radio system where the secondary transmitter harvests energy. This system operates under an energy causality constraint mandating that the average energy consumption must not exceed the average harvested energy, and a collision constraint mandating the protection of the primary system. The purpose of this paper is to identify the optimal pairing of the sensing duration and the energy detector's sensing threshold in order to maximize the average throughput of the secondary network. Since the sensing duration and sensing threshold are intertwined with the energy causality constraint, they need to be redesigned with the purpose of conserving energy in mind. Hence, the sensing duration must be shorter while still satisfying the collision constraint. The numerical results show that the optimal sensing duration is determined based on which constraint, collision or energy causality, needs to have priority. In addition, the simulation results show a pairing of the optimal sensing duration and sensing threshold provided by the coordination between the two constraints, which gives insight into how to design them.