An opportunistic guard-band-aware channel assignment: A batch-based approach

In this paper, we present a novel guard-band (GB)-aware channel assignment mechanism that attempts at maximization the achieved network throughput by improving spectrum utilization. Unlike most of previously proposed GB-aware channel assignment algorithms that perform the assignment sequentially, the proposed mechanism performs the channel and power assignment for multiple cognitive radio (CR) transmissions at the same time (the so-called batch approach). Batching enables concurrent channel assignment for multiple CR links, which consequently allows for concurrent data transmissions. The batch approach can be realized by introducing an admission control access window (AW) for CR users to share their control information. The batch approach can effectively provide distributed decisions that offer better throughput performance while reducing the number of introduced GBs. Compared to previous GB-aware schemes, the simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme achieves a significant throughput improvement.