Design and implementation of cognitive radio hardware platform based on USRP

Cognitive radio is used to improve spectrum utilization. Many theoretical achievements have been proposed in spectrum sensing, spectrum access, spectrum handover and so on. Hardware platforms have also been put forward. However, the traditional hardware device which is based on embedded system has the disadvantages of narrow band coverage and inflexibility. In this paper, we design and implement a cognitive radio hardware platform based on Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) which is capable of covering wide band from 2.3GHz to 2.7GHz and changing parameters. Users of this platform are the secondary users. They can find the spectrum holes and access the most suitable one for their communication. When primary users return, spectrum handover function can help secondary users switch to another channel to continue their communication.