A Survey on Spectrum Sensing Techniques for Cognitive Radio

Abstract

Natural frequency spectrum is scared resource; the efficient use of it can only accommodate the need of future computing world. But efficient use of it is not possible within the existing system, where the allocation of spectrum is done based on fixed spectrum access (FSA) policy. Many surveys show that it leads to inefficient use of spectrum. For efficient utilization of spectrum innovative techniques is needed. Using Dynamic spectrum access (DSA) policy, available spectrum can be exploited. For given purpose Cognitive radio arises to be a tempting solution which introduces opportunistic usage of the frequency bands that are not heavily occupied by licensed users. This paper presents the study of different spectrum sensing techniques of cognitive radio networks. As matter of fact Cognitive radio is a form of wireless communication where radio transceiver intelligently detects which spectrums are free which are not. After this it occupies the vacant one while avoiding busy one. Cognitive radios promote open spectrum allocation which is a clear departure from traditional command and control allocation schemes for radio spectrum usage. In short, it allows the formation of “infrastructure-less” collaborative network clusters which is called Cognitive Radio Networks (CRN). However spectrum sensing techniques are needed to detect free spectrum. In this paper, different spectrum sensing techniques are analyzed with their respective pros and corns