Spectrum sensing performance of p-norm detector in random network interference

Spectrum sensing performance of a cognitive radio (CR) deploying the traditional energy detector (ED) degrades in the presence of random network interference where both the number and locations of the interferers are random, thus preventing correct detection of primary user (PU) in the band of interest. However, it is not clear how the ED performance in such random network interference can be improved. Moreover, the previous studies do not consider complete modeling of the wireless environment including the cumulative effects of path-loss, fading and random network interference. We thus take these effects into account and investigate the performance of the p-norm detector, which offers the flexibility of adapting p to the operating conditions (as against fixed p = 2 for ED). Such adaptability yields remarkable performance gains over ED (say, 15% gain even at 10 dB lower (than that for ED) PU signal powers). Further, cooperative spectrum sensing with multiple CRs yields additional performance gains (say, 30% better performance at optimal cooperative detection threshold) compared to single CR based sensing even under the cumulative effects of path-loss, fading and random network interference.