International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2014)

Cognitive Radio System Analysis Using MATLAB

Tushar D. Mohite1, Dr. M. S. Gaikwad2, Prof. S. B. Gholap3
1,2,3

Dept. of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering STESs Sinhgad Institute of Technology, Lonavala,
University of Pune, India
We can achieve all of this with the help of cognitive
radio. This cognitive radio is able to sense the spectrum
to find the spectrum holes and this can take quick
decision about accessing spectrum. Cognitive radios have
the potential to access un-used spectrum gaps to increase
efficiency of spectrum and to provide wideband services.

Abstract Demand of wireless communication is

increasing day by day, this increasing demand put so many
limitations on the use of radio spectrum. Spectrum
utilization survey shows that entire spectrum is not used so
many times. Because of this radio spectrum is underutilized.
This underutilization can be minimized by using Cognitive
radio (CR). Spectrum sensing in cognitive radio helps to
find out this underutilized bands of spectrum (spectrum
holes). With the help of cognitive radio technology spectrum
utilization can be increased efficiently. A conventional radio
always operates in particular communications mode always
follows the similar procedure and either succeeds or fails at
a task given to it. In contrast, a cognitive radio, can use
knowledge of radio technology and other related factors to
reason about a failed attempt to satisfy a goal and attempt
alternate courses of action depending upon the situations.
Cognitive radio (CR) development will change the world of
wireless communication. In the field of cognitive radio to
study the roles of knowledge representation and reasoning
technologies we have generated experimental cognitive
radio model using MATLAB. In this paper, we studied the
idea of simulating a cognitive radio system to recycle vacant
spectrum to increase capacity of the system. Cognitive radio
(CR) development will change the world of wireless
communication.

Figure 1. Graph of spectrum utilization at Berkeley Wireless

Research Center

Index Terms Radio spectrum, Spectrum sensing,

Spectrum utilization, Spectrum holes, Cognitive radio (CR),
MATLAB.

II. BACKGROUND
A basic cognitive cycle consist of following three
basic tasks
Spectrum Sensing- Spectrum sensing is the skill to
measure, sense and be aware of the parameters associated
to the characteristics of radio channel, availability of
spectrum and transmit power, interference and noise,
operating environment of radio, application and
requirements of user etc. This is done through Time,
Space (geographical) and Frequency [3].
Spectrum Analysis- Spectrum Analysis is related to
spectrum sensing which is analysing the condition of
numerous factor inside and outside of the radio
environment such as frequency spectrum use by nearby
devices, user activities and network state and discovering
the best communication protocol and altering channel or
frequency consequently [5].

I. INTRODUCTION
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has
stated that, depending on space (geographical location)
and time, most of the licensed bands are underutilized.
Subsequently, due to the always growing need for
wireless communication, cognitive radio systems have
been established to increase the spectrum utilization
efficiency by allowing access of empty frequency bands
to secondary users. The presence and absence of primary
user is decided by core function behind the access which
is proficient by spectrum sensing.
Now a days almost radio systems are operate in
specific frequency band. And they are not aware of their
radio spectrum environment.
Survey of spectrum utilization shows that all the
spectrum in space or time is not utilized [1]. Therefore an
intelligent radio is required that can sense and understand
its spectrum environment, identify temporarily empty
spectrum and use it, provides higher bandwidth services
and increase efficiency of spectrum [2].

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2014)
This feature of CR is very important in providing
services to the users especially when they are mobile and
the base stations in contact are constantly changing.
Quality of Service improvement- availability and
reliability of wireless services will improve from the
users point of view.
Benefits to the Service Provider- Because of increased
information transfer rates more customers attracts
towards the services.
Future-proofed product- A CR is able to modify
services, protocols, modulation, spectrum etc. without the
need for a user or manufacturer to upgrading to device.
Common hardware platform- Manufacturers does not
need to build several hardware variants, instead using a
single common platform to run a wide range of software.
Emergency communication services- At the time of
major incidents joint operations would greatly beneficial
to police, fire, ambulance could be linked together in one
radio.
Benefits to the Licensee- IN this licensees would be
allowed to rent a portion of their spectrum rights to other
parties and make money.

Figure 2. Cognitive Cycle

Decision making- Spectrum Decision Making calls for

reconfiguration for the channel and protocol required for
constantly adapting to mobile changing environments
and adjustment of output power or make alteration of
transmission parameters (such as modulation formats)
and characteristics by the Cognitive radio devices.

IV. TECHNIQUE
We explained the idea of simulating a cognitive radio
system to recycle unused spectrum to increase the total
system capability. At the time of work, we tried nearly all
the available simulation procedures but unluckily no one
had revealed the precise technique and maximum of the
simulations based on some specific hardware platforms.
Previously available simulation techniques, simulated
only some particular parts of cognitive radio technology
like MIMO techniques, spectrum sensing, spectrum
scanning etc. We have implemented basic cognitive radio
(CR) using MATLAB model. There is no other simple
technique available to implement CR system using
MATLAB.

A. Why Cognitive Radio

Cognitive radios are built on software-defined radio
(SDR) technology [1]. Which involves authorities in
digital communication, wireless networks, and so many
other fields. While providing greater flexibility and
access to the spectrum the SDR system also respect the
rights of the obligatory license holders. For revolutionize
the telecommunications industry, Dynamic Spectrum
Access (DSA) networks employing cognitive radios is
the key by the given request for more bandwidth and the
quantity of underutilized spectrum. Apart of which we
use spectrum resources, to design wireless systems and
services.

A. Simulation Procedure
Initialization- Initialize the 5 Carrier Frequency
Bands for Users and also initialize Message
Frequency and the Sampling Frequency.
Modulation- Modulates user data over the
respective frequency band using amplitude
modulation
Adder- Addition of all the modulated signals to
produce a carrier signal
Periodogram- For estimation of the power spectral
density.
Allocation of unoccupied slot- When a new User
arrives he is allotted to the first spectral hole.
Emptying a slot- If all the slots are engaged ask user
to empty a specific slot.
Addition of noise- Amount of Noise to be added.
Attenuation- Percentage of Attenuation Required

III. KEY BENEFITS

CR offers optimal variety in coding, frequency,
modulation, power, time, space, polarization and so on
which leads to
Efficiency of spectrum- This will allow upcoming
demand for spectrum to be encountered and is the basic
purpose behind implementation of CR.
High bandwidth service- Demand of wireless service
is continuously increasing which will be fulfilled by the
implementation of CR.
Graceful Degradation of Services - When conditions
are not ideal, a graceful degradation of service is
provided, as opposed to the less desirable complete and
sudden loss of service.

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2014)
B. Applications of cognitive radio
There are various new generation wireless applications
and services in which we can add CR capabilities. Some
of this applications are as follows
Future (upcoming) internet services- upcoming
internet services supporting wide band, high data rates,
and seamless quality of service guarantee for various
multimedia and other applications.
Multimedia downloads in mobile- To download music,
video and other files in portable player, requires
moderate data rates and good coverage.
Communication during emergency services- we
require localized coverage and moderate data rates at the
time of emergency for communication. (Military,
surveillance etc.)
Wireless multimedia services- For audio, video
distribution using wireless system requires higher data
rates.
V. MATLAB SIMULATION RESULTS
Here, suppose 1st, 3rd and 5th primary users are
present and 2nd and 3rd primary users are not present
as shown in figure 3.
After that the CR system will search for the
Spectrum holes in the spectrum and automatically
assign it to the secondary users one by one, as
shown in figure 4 and 5.
If all the spectrum holes occupied by the secondary
users then all the Spectrum bands are in use as
shown in figure 5.
After that we take Signal to noise ratio (SNR) is
10dB, and the result is shown in figure 6.
Finally we attenuate the received signal by 15% and
the result is shown in figure 7.

Figure 3. Used bands and unused bands

Figure 4. 2nd unused band assigned to the secondary user 1

158

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2014)

Figure 7. Attenuation of received signal by 15%

VI. CONCLUSION
Figure 5. 3rd unused band assigned to the secondary user 2

CR technology proposed to increase spectrum

utilization by allowing dynamic spectrum access at a run
time. By using spectrum sensing cognitive radio find out
the spectrum holes and secondary users are allowed to
use that spectrum holes as long as it does not interfere by
primary (licensed) users. In this paper idea of simulating
a cognitive radio system to recycle unused spectrum to
increase the total system capability is explored by using
MATLAB. Simulation results shows that how cognitive
radio works.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
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[4]

Figure 6. Signal to noise ratio (SNR) = 10 dB

[5]

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