Cognitive Radio Network: An Overview

Faisal Tariq
XGMT Research Group

11th June 2009

Project at a Glance

Title: Cognitive Radio Networks

Affiliation: neXt Generation Multimedia Technologies
research group (xGMT)

Period: October 2008 to September 2011.

Supervision Team:
 Prof. Laurence S. Dooley, Chair of ICT.
 Dr. Adrian S. Poulton, Lecturer of ICT.
Background

Figure: Spectrum Utilization Figure: Spectrum Holes

Fixed Spectrum Allocation: Inefficient use of resources.

FCC study: Some spectrum usage is as low as 15%.

Possible Alternative: Dynamic Spectrum Allocation (DSA)

Major Challenge: Enabling Technology

© 2008 by Faisal Tariq

Cognitive Radio?

Cognitive Radio: Enabling technology for DSA.

First coined by J Mitola of KTH in 2000.

Simplest Definition: Intelligent Radio.

Aware of the surrounding environment

Learns from the environment

Adaptive to changes in environment

Basic Idea: Use the unused spectrum opportunistically

Primary User: owner of the Spectrum

Secondary User: Opportunistic User

Rule to follow: Never Disturb the Primary User
Basic Cognitive Cycle

Cognitive Tasks:
 Interference Temperature
Measurement
 Radio Environment Mapping
 Channel State Information
 Radio Resource Management

Figure: Basic Cognitive Cycle

 CR: Application Scenarios
Spectrum Sources Possible Applications

Urban and Rural Broadband Services,

Licensed networks Location Specific WiFi,
[Cellular and PCS] Nomadic Wireless Access, Active RFID,
TV band white Space Automatic Meter Reading,
ISM Band Automatic Vehicle Location
P1900, IEEE802.22, IMT-A (Gigabit Wireless)

However, real products are unlikely to come to market in near

future

Business Models are important

Partial CR Technologies are likely to evolve first
Current Research Status:

Radio Frequency Receiver Hardware

Hardware reconfigurability

Multi Channel Filter, Non-linear Power Amplifier

Sensing Techniques: Detection of Spectrum Hole

New design approach: Receiver centric for better Accuracy

Two Major direction: Spectrum Overlay and Underlay

Difficulty: Locating presence of passive devices.

Cooperative Sensing or Separate Sensing Network.

Information Theoretic Limit

Fundamental Limit on Capacity.

Cooperative and Non-cooperative sensing.

Analytical framework for imperfect CSI
Research Status (Contd):

Radio Resource Management: From Fixed to Dynamic

Ultimate aim is to improve efficiency!

Proper RRM needs to implemented to achieve goal.

Paradigm shift in concept and strategy.

Constrained by the presence of primary user.

Complexity increases due to dynamic channel selection.

Our area of focus in this research project!
Research Focus: Dynamic RRM

Algorithms: Power Allocation, Channel Allocation, Joint Power and Channel

Allocation

Its an NP-hard problem.

Performance of algorithms are highly scenario dependent

Different Algorithm proposed to optimize certain performance metrics

Major Performance Metrics: Power, Throughput, Connectivity.

Scheduling Techniques: RR, Max C/I, PF.

Cooperation among primary and secondary matters!
Research Questions/Objectives

To design an RRM Model for joint rate and channel allocation.

Optimize the performance in terms of overall system throughput
and connectivity.

Ensure fairness in allocation among the users based on certain
priority conditions.

Complexity considerations: Heuristic, Game Theory, Genetic
Algorithm

Cooperative and Non-cooperative Models.

Consider the impact of imperfect channel information.
Summary

CRN is a paradigm shift in vision, concept and technology

It poses an entire gamut of research challenges.

CR technology is new and therefore lots of fertile areas worth
exploring.

Dynamic RRM (DRRM) is the most important as it encompasses
all the operating layers.

No single model works best - target is to develop a DRRM
framework that optimises performance under different network
scenarios.
!!-- Thank You --!!
 References

[1] Federal Communications Commission, “Spectrum Policy Task Force”

Rep. ET Docket no. 02-135, Nov. 2002
[2] Simon Haykin ‘Brain Empowered Wiereless Communications’ IEEE JSAC
Vol 23, No. 2, February 2005
[3] J. Mitola “Cognitive radio: An integrated agent architecture for software defined
radio” Doctor of Technology, Royal Inst. Technol. (KTH), Sweden,
2000.
[4] Mona Mostafa Hella ‘Lecture notes on Wireless Broadband Netwrok’ Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, 2007
[5] http://www.ece.gatech.edu/research/labs/bwn/CR/Projectdescription.html
[6] Simon Haykin ‘Brain Empowered Wireless Communication’ JSAC, 02/2005