Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Cognitive radio (CR) is a radio with an intelligent layer of awareness and learning necessary to achieve optimal performance under dynamic and unpredictable conditions. CR can dynamically adapt its behavior, through its awareness, to the radio environment and spectrum policy. One of the most critical components of CR technology is spectrum sensing (SS). By sensing and adapting to the environment, a CR is able to fill in spectrum holes and serve secondary users without harmful interference to the primary users. SS techniques can be categorized into two categories: local SS, and collaborative SS (CSS). There are three main local techniques which are: matched filter detection technique, energy detection technique, and cyclostatinary detection. CSS significantly alleviates the deterioration of sensing performance due to destructive radio conditions. Software-defined radio (SDR) is a key enabling technology to realize CRs. The proposal considers improved algorithms for CR Networks (CRNs). The proposal will investigate efficient blind SS/CSS techniques that would lead to decrease sensing time while improving the probability of detection; overhead compromise will be considered. The proposal will also investigate cluster-based SS (CBSS) approaches for CRNs that would maintain high performance under noise uncertainty, low signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) conditions, and multipath fading conditions. Scenarios, where more than one primary user exists, will be investigated and analyzed. Performance enhancement of local SS using adaptive joint sensing threshold and sensing time will be investigated as well as enhancing energy efficiency for wideband CSS in CRNs using coalitional game theory.Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is on the rise due to increasing demands for vehicles to communicate with each other and with the infrastructure to ensure road safety and to introduce new services. The proposal considers efficient solutions for CR-VANETs that would consider sensing the spectrum, forming clusters while on the move. SS techniques under fast fading will be investigated to serve CR-VANET. Methods to protect the primary user (PU) in CR-VANET need to be investigated and developed. Efficient medium access control (MAC) schemes that would lead to enhance the sensing performance in CR VANET will be investigated. Investigating the impact of changing mobility parameters (high speed, changeable topology, etc.) on sensing performance and accuracy will be investigated. This proposal aims to provide a research environment where graduate and undergraduate students get involved in state-of-the-art topics in computer-communication networks that definitely will enhance their potential and knowledge.