On the Spectrum Handoff for Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks without Common Control Channel

TL;DR

This paper proposes a proactive spectrum handoff framework for cognitive radio ad hoc networks that enables unlicensed users to vacate channels before licensed users reclaim them, improving throughput and reducing collisions without a common control channel.

Contribution

It introduces a novel proactive spectrum handoff protocol, distributed channel selection scheme, and a Markov chain model for performance analysis, all without relying on a common control channel.

Findings

Proactive handoff outperforms reactive in throughput and collision reduction.

The Markov model accurately predicts spectrum handoff performance.

Simulation validates the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Abstract

Cognitive radio (CR) technology is a promising solution to enhance the spectrum utilization by enabling unlicensed users to exploit the spectrum in an opportunistic manner. Since unlicensed users are temporary visitors to the licensed spectrum, they are required to vacate the spectrum when a licensed user reclaims it. Due to the randomness of the appearance of licensed users, disruptions to both licensed and unlicensed communications are often difficult to prevent. In this chapter, a proactive spectrum handoff framework for CR ad hoc networks is proposed to address these concerns. In the proposed framework, channel switching policies and a proactive spectrum handoff protocol are proposed to let unlicensed users vacate a channel before a licensed user utilizes it to avoid unwanted interference. Network coordination schemes for unlicensed users are also incorporated into the spectrum handoff protocol design to realize channel rendezvous. Moreover, a distributed channel selection scheme to eliminate collisions among unlicensed users is proposed. In our proposed framework, unlicensed users coordinate with each other without using a common control channel. We compare our proposed proactive spectrum handoff protocol with a reactive spectrum handoff protocol, under which unlicensed users switch channels after collisions with licensed transmissions occur. Simulation results show that our proactive spectrum handoff outperforms the reactive spectrum handoff approach in terms of higher throughput and fewer collisions to licensed users. In addition, we propose a novel three dimensional discrete-time Markov chain to characterize the process of reactive spectrum handoffs and analyze the performance of unlicensed users. We validate the numerical results obtained from our proposed Markov model against simulation and investigate other parameters of interest in the spectrum handoff scenario.