Adaptive Spectr um Decision Method for Heterogeneous Cognitive Radio Networks

To improve spectrum utilization and minimize interference to Primary User (PU), an adaptive spectrum decision method is proposed for Secondary User (SU), while taking traffic load balancing and spectrum heterogeneity into consideration. Long-term statistics and current sensing results are integrated into the proposed decision method of spectrum access. Two decision methods, namely probability based and sensing based, are presented, compared and followed by performance analysis in terms of delay. For probability based spectrum decision, Short-Time-Job-First (STJF) priority queuing discipline is employed to minimize average residual time and theoretical conclusion is derived in a novel way. For sensing based decision we treat the interrupted service of SU as newly incoming and re-decision process is initialized to find available spectrum in a First-Available-First-Access (FAFA) fashion. Effect of sensing error in PHY layer is also analyzed in terms of extended average residual time. Simulation results show that, for relatively low arriving rate of SU traffic, the proposed spectrum decision method yields at least a delay reduction of 39.5% compared with non-adaptive method. The proposed spectrum decision can significantly improve delay performance even facing sensing errors, which cause performance degeneration to both PU and SU.