Spectrum sensing for cognitive radio

Abstract

One of the unique feature of cognitive radio systems is they can make use of temporarily idle spectral bands in an opportunistic manner. To achieve this however, robust sensing algorithm is required which otherwise incumbent services could suffer from interference. In this paper sensing algorithms based on energy detection and self-correlation detection are presented and compared. The self-correlation detection is shown to provide superior performance with lower or comparable complexity. Computer simulation is provided to validate the concept.