Power-Optimal Feedback-Based Random Spectrum Access for an Energy Harvesting Cognitive User

TL;DR

This paper proposes a power-efficient, feedback-based spectrum access protocol for energy-harvesting secondary users in cognitive radio networks, accounting for unreliable feedback and sensing errors, with the goal of maximizing secondary throughput while protecting primary users.

Contribution

It introduces a novel spectrum access protocol that leverages imperfect feedback and energy harvesting, optimizing power allocation under QoS constraints for primary users.

Findings

Protocol improves secondary throughput with unreliable feedback.

Power allocation enhances energy efficiency in spectrum access.

Accommodates spectrum sensing errors and multi-packet reception capabilities.

Abstract

In this paper, we study and analyze cognitive radio networks in which secondary users (SUs) are equipped with Energy Harvesting (EH) capability. We design a random spectrum sensing and access protocol for the SU that exploits the primary link's feedback and requires less average sensing time. Unlike previous works proposed earlier in literature, we do not assume perfect feedback. Instead, we take into account the more practical possibilities of overhearing unreliable feedback signals and accommodate spectrum sensing errors. Moreover, we assume an interference-based channel model where the receivers are equipped with multi-packet reception (MPR) capability. Furthermore, we perform power allocation at the SU with the objective of maximizing the secondary throughput under constraints that maintain certain quality-of-service (QoS) measures for the primary user (PU).