Wideband spectrum sensing experiments in indoor wireless channels

In this work, spectrum sensing experiments are conducted in indoor wireless channels using state-of-the-art commercial software radio transceivers. The objective is to evaluate the performance of cooperative spectrum sensing of wideband channels and determine achievable gains against the limiting effects of multipath interference, frequency-selective and correlated fading. To this end, the energy and temporal correlation metrics of narrowband signals embedded in a wideband transmit signal are examined with varying transmitter-receiver positions. It is shown that whereas the energy metric of signal carrying bands becomes indistinguishable from that of empty bands with increasing distance and in non line-of-sight conditions, the temporal correlation features of modulated active channels are retained when sensing relatively longer distances from the transmitter, even in a highly multipath environment.