Analysis of Cognitive Radio Networks with Channel Aggregation

This paper presents two channel aggregation schemes for wideband cognitive radio networks: a constant channel aggregation scheme and a variable channel aggregation scheme. In the variable channel aggregation scheme, the bandwidth of the cognitive user is aggregated with a probability distribution or aggregated on the basis of the number of the residual channels. These channel aggregation schemes are analyzed by using a Markov chain and are evaluated in terms of the throughput, the blocking probability, and the forced termination probability. Numerical and simulation results show that the variable channel aggregation scheme based on the residual channel improves the throughput of the cognitive users.