Influence of antenna selection on spectrum occupancy measurements in the context of cognitive radio

Cognitive radio (CR) has been proposed as a solution to the spectrum scarcity problem, which is aggravated by emergence of bandwidth-hungry and feature-rich wireless applications. Selection of appropriate antennas for cognitive radio applications is challenging due to the wide frequency range of operation and the requirement for near-omnidirectional coverage. The objective of this paper is to investigate the influence of antenna selection on spectrum occupancy measurements in the context of cognitive radio. The results presented provide an insight into the influence of antenna selection on actual spectrum utilization in the TV bands.