COGNITIVE RADIO

WIRELESS NETWORKS:
AN INTRODUCTION AND ROUTING
CHALLENGES
A PRESENTATION UNDER THE COURSE WORK OF ADHOC & SENSOR NETWORKS

PRESENTED BY:
SAQUIB MAZHAR

CONTEN
TS

1. Motivation
2. Dynamic Spectrum Access
3. Cognitive Radio
4. CR Networks
5. Network Classifications
6. Routing Approach and Challenges
7. IEEE Standards
8. Conclusion

MOTIVATION
Fixed spectrum assignment policy - regulated by
governmental agencies, only assigned to license
holders.
Spectrum usage is concentrated on certain
portions - significant amount remains unutilized.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
report variations in the usage of allocated
spectrum between 15% to 85% (year 2010,
USA).
In parallel, the unlicensed bands (majorly 2.4Ghz
ISM band) have been overcrowded.
At the same time, several frequency licensed
bands such as in the 400700 MHz range, are
under-utilized.
The limited available spectrum and the
inefficiency in the spectrum usage.
FCC approval for the use of unlicensed devices in
licensed bands.

PLOT SHOWING THE SPECTRUM UTILIZATION

OF THE UNLICENSED ISM BAND(DATA COLLECTED
AROUND JFK AIRPORT, WDC, USA,Y.2010)

DSA

SOLUTION TO INEFFECTIVE SPECTRUM UTILIZATION

Dynamic spectrum access (DSA) - a new

spectrum sharing paradigm allowing secondary
users to access the abundant spectrum holes or
white spaces in the licensed spectrum bands.
DSA is a promising technology to alleviate the
spectrum
scarcity
problem
and
increase
spectrum utilization.

1.

2.
3.
4.

5.

PRINCIPLES OF
DSA:
Link Adaptation also

called Adaptive
Modulation and Coding (AMC): matching of the
modulation, coding and other signal and
protocol parameters to the conditions on the
radio link (e.g. pathloss, interference, sensitivity
of the receiver, available transmitter power,
etc.)
Bandwidth Management
Multi-user MIMO - multiple-input and multipleoutput technologies for wireless communication
Pre-cancellation of estimated interference technique for efficient transmission of digital
data through a channel subjected to some
interference known to the transmitter
Link aggregation - Combining unused channels
(not pre-allocated) for a single user in order to
increase throughput beyond single connection

COGNITIVE RADIO

INTRODUCTION

It is a radio that can change its transmitter

parameters based on interaction with the
environment in which it operates.

Main characteristics:
1. Cognitive Capability ability to sense the
information from radio environment; unused
spectrum portions can be identified
2. Reconfigurability
enables radio to be
dynamically programmed according to radio
environment
. It can be programmed to transmit and receive on
a variety of frequencies and to use different
transmission access technologies supported by
its hardware design.

CR SPECTRUM

Two types of users: 1) Primary (Licensed users)

2) Secondary (Unlicensed users)

CR FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS

CR NETWORKS

CRNs distinguish two types of users sharing a

common spectrum portion with different rules:
1. Primary (or licensed) Users (PUs): have priority
in spectrum utilization within the band they
have licensed.
2. Secondary Users (SUs): which access the
spectrum in a non-intrusive manner.
.
Primary Users use traditional wireless
communication systems with static spectrum
allocation.
. Secondary Users are equipped with CRs and
exploit Spectrum Opportunities (SOPs) to sustain
their communication

NETWORK CLASSIFICATION

Based on Network Architecture:

1. Infrastructure based CR networks

.
has central entity such as Base Station(BS) in
cellular
networks or access points in wireless
LANs.
.
Observations, analysis by each CR is fed to
central BS
in order to take decisions.
2. CR Ad Hock Networks (CRAHNs)
.
no infrastructure backbone
.
user connects through ad hoc connection on
both licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
.
each user needs to have all CR capabilities
and
is responsible for determining its actions based
on the local observation.

CR NETWORK
CLASSIFICATION DIAGRAM

a) Infrastructure based CR network

CRAHN

b)

ROUTING IN CR NETWORKS:
APPROACH
Classical routing algorithms for wireless networks
attempt to optimize an end-to-end metric such as
latency, number of hops, etc.
Dynamic spectrum access techniques allow CR to
operate in best available channel.
Once best available channel selected, next
challenge make network protocol adaptive to
available spectrum.
Need for spectrum aware communication protocol.
Dynamic use of spectrum adverse effects on
performance of conventional communication
protocols.
Conventional protocols designed considering
fixed frequency band for communication
Due to so many interactions required among
different layers, cross-layer design approach

MAIN FUNCTIONS FOR CR

IN A NETWORK

Spectrum
sensing:
Detecting
unused
spectrum and sharing the spectrum without
harmful interference with other users.
Spectrum management: Capturing the best
available spectrum to meet user communication
requirements.

Spectrum mobility: Maintaining seamless

communication
requirements
during
the
transition to better spectrum.

Spectrum sharing: Providing the fair spectrum

scheduling method among coexisting Secondary
users.

CR FUNCTIONALITIES AND NETWORKING LAYERS

COGNITIVE CYCLE

ROUTING IN CR NETWORKS:
CHALLENGES

Challenge 1: the spectrum-awareness: three scenarios

may be possible:
the information on the spectrum occupancy is provided
to the routing engine by external entities (e.g., SUs may
have access to a data base of white spaces of TV
towers)
the information on spectrum occupancy is to be
gathered locally by each SU through local and
distributed sensing mechanisms
a mixture of the above two

ROUTING IN CR NETWORKS:
CHALLENGES

Challenge 2: the set up of quality routes in dynamic

variable environment

- the very same concept of route quality is to be redefined under CRN scenario.
- the actual topology of multi-hop CRNs is highly
influenced by PUs behavior, and classical ways of
measuring/assessing the quality of end-to-end routes
(nominal
bandwidth,
throughput,
delay,
energy
efficiency and fairness) should be coupled with novel
measures on path stability, spectrum availability/PU
presence.

ROUTING IN CR NETWORKS:
CHALLENGES

Challenge 3: the route maintenance/reparation

the sudden appearance of a PU in a given location
may render a given channel unusable in a given area,
resulting in unpredictable route failures, which may
require frequent path rerouting either in terms of
nodes or used channels.
Effective signalling procedures are required to restore
broken paths with minimal effect on the perceived
quality.

CRN ROUTING SCHEMES

MAJOR ROUTING CHALLENGE:

EXPECTED COST TO SWITCH OR STAY

There is a cost function associated with every secondary user

when it is being routed through many of the dynamically
available licensed channels.

In real world there will be many secondary users competing

with each other to occupy one of the channels.

Researchers have modelled this problem as a Game Theory

Model, with most optimal solution being the Nash Equilibrium.

Expected cost to find a clear channel:

Its solution comes out to be

Equilibrium point.

Si = strategy chosen by ith

secondary user
S-i= strategy followed by others
C= cost of single switching
f(N,M)=function for varying
of cost with N and M
abehaviour
probability
based Nash
N=number of secondary users
M=number of available bands

IEEE STANDARDS FOR CRN

IEEE 1900 working group formed in 2005 and renamed to

IEEE DySPAN in 2010

Standards being formed for spectrum sensing while testing,

networking and security aspects remain to be standardised.

CONCLUSIO
CRNs viable solution to solve spectrum efficiency
N
problems by an
licensed bands.

opportunistic

access

to

the

Holes in the radio spectrum exploited by

secondary users other than licensed primary users.

Majority of proposed Routing protocols work on

physical and link layer.

Efficient routing proposes challenges as the

bandwidth and route keeps on changing.

Spectrum switching cost needs to be minimised

with major proposed minimisation functions

depend upon probabilistic Game Model- Nash
Equilibrium solution

REFERENCES
1)

I.F. Akyildiz, W.-Y. Lee, M.C. Vuran, M. Shantidev, NeXt

generation/dynamic spectrum access/ cognitive radio wireless
networks: a survey, Computer Networks Journal (Elsevier) 50
(2006) pp. 21272159.

2)

Ian F. Akyildiz, W.-Y. Lee, Kaushik R. Chowdhury, CRAHNs:

Cognitive radio ad hoc networks, Computer Networks Journal
(Elsevier) 7 (2009) pp. 810-836.

3)

Matteo Cesana, Francesca Cuomo, Eylem Ekici, Routing in

cognitive radio networks: Challenges and Solutions, Ad Hoc
Networks Journal (Elsevier) 9 (2011) pp. 228-248.

4)

Kaushik R. Chowdhury, Ian F. Akyildiz, CRP: A Routing Protocol for

Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks, IEEE Journal on Selected areas
in Communication, Vol . 29, No.4, (2011) pp. 794-804

5)

Zhu Ji and K. J. Ray Liu, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing: A Game

Theoretical Overview, IEEE Communications Magazine, May
2007, pp. 88 -94

6)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_radio

THANKS