On Spectrum Sharing and Dynamic Spectrum Allocation: MAC Layer Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks

One of the most critical issues regarding wireless networks regulation agencies is how to manage the available electromagnetic radio spectrum in a way that satisfies the needs of the huge growing in wireless systems both economically and technically, especially with the recent crowding in the available spectrum. Hence, building cognitive radio systems supporting dynamic access to the available spectrum has appeared recently as a novel solution for the wireless system huge expansion. In this paper we investigate the MAC layer sensing schemes in cognitive radio networks, where both reactive and proactive sensing are considered. In proactive sensing the adapted and non-adapted sensing periods schemes are also assessed. The assessment of these sensing schemes has been held via two performance metrics: available spectrum utilization and idle channel search delay. Simulation results show that with proactive sensing adapted periods we achieve the best performance but with an observable overhead computational tasks to be done by the network nodes.