An optimal fusion rule for cooperative spectrum sensing over Nakagami and Rician fading channels

Cooperative spectrum sensing is an efficient solution to deal with the effects of fading components on detection performance in cognitive radio networks. Data fusion is one of the fundamental elements of this solution. In this paper, we derive the optimal `n-ratio' fusion rule over Nakagami and Rician fading channels and examine its performance through numerical simulations and compare the results to other decision fusion schemes. Evaluations indicate that `2-ratio' logic outperforms other data fusion schemes in both Nakagami and Rician fading channels. Moreover, the effect of malfunctioning of one CR user is investigated on the performance of `2-ratio' logic.