Multi-bid auctions for channel allocation in multi-channel dynamic spectrum access networks

In this paper, we propose an auction-based spectrum allocation scheme in a multi-channel distributed cognitive radio network where primary users are the sellers and secondary users are the buyers. The SUs bid for the various channels that the primaries want to sell; however their bids based on the preference for the channels. We use the signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) as a metric for the preference; bids for channels with higher SINR are more than the ones that have low SINR. The proposed auction scheme allocates the channels such that the high-preference channels are allocated to the SUs- which does not necessarily maximize revenue for the PUs. The allocation of channels are done such that the i) SUs get their preferred channel, ii) channels are spatially re-used, and iii) a channel is not used by any interfering primary or secondary users. We use the interference conflict graph and the preference list as inputs to the auction-based allocation process. We validate the proposed allocation process through simulation experiments and show what fraction of secondary users get the channels and what the preference was for the assigned channel. Moreover, we measure the effect of the transmission range on the number of assigned channels. We also show that the proposed scheme is fair using Jain's fairness index.