Mathematical and Computer Modelling 53 (2011) 21082118

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Mathematical and Computer Modelling

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mcm

Throughput-oriented channel assignment for opportunistic spectrum

access networks
Haythem Ahmad Bany Salameh
Telecommunications Engineering Department, Hijjawi Faculty for Engineering Technology, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, Jordan

article

info

Article history:
Received 23 December 2009
Received in revised form 22 June 2010
Accepted 30 June 2010
Keywords:
Spectrum scarcity
Channel assignment
Integer programming
Opportunistic spectrum access

abstract
Cognitive radio (CR) is a revolutionary technology in wireless communications that
enhances spectrum utilization by allowing opportunistic and dynamic spectrum access.
One of the key challenges in this domain is how CR users cooperate to dynamically
access the available spectrum opportunities in order to maximize the overall perceived
throughput. In this paper, we consider the coordinated spectrum access problem in a multiuser single-transceiver CR network (CRN), where each CR user is equipped with only one
half-duplex transceiver. We first formulate the dynamic spectrum access as a rate/power
control and channel assignment optimization problem. Our objective is to maximize the
sum-rate achieved by all contending CR users over all available spectrum opportunities
under interference and hardware constraints. We first show that this problem can be
formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem that is NP-hard,
in general. By exploiting the fact that actual communication systems have a finite number
of available channels, each with a given maximum transmission power, we transfer this
MINLP into a binary linear programming problem (BLP). Due to its integrality nature, this
BLP is expected to be NP-hard. However, we show that its constraint matrix satisfies
the total unimodularity property, and hence our problem can be optimally solved in
polynomial time using linear programming (LP). To execute the optimal assignment
in a distributed manner, we then present a distributed CSMA/CA-based random access
mechanism for CRNs. We compare the performance of our proposed mechanism with
reference CSMA/CA channel access mechanisms designed for CRNs. Simulation results
show that our proposed mechanism significantly improves the overall network throughput
and preserves fairness.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Spectrum measurements by the FCC Spectrum Policy Task Force [1] challenges for the first time the common belief of
spectrum scarcity by indicating significant temporal and geographical variations in the utilization of the licensed spectrum,
ranging from 15% to 85% [2]. To exploit the highly under-utilized portions of the spectrum (a.k.a, white spaces, spectrum
holes, etc.), the FCC is considering revising its static spectrum allocation policies to allow for opportunistic spectrum
access (OSA). For this purpose, cognitive radios (programmable radio platforms) have been proposed as a revolutionary
technology in wireless communications for opportunistic and dynamic access to the limited radio spectrum without
impacting spectrum-licensed primary-radio (PR) users. CRs are smart, programmable radios that are capable of channelinterference sensing, environment learning, and dynamic spectrum access [2].

Corresponding address: Department of Telecommunication Engineering, Yarmouk University, Irbid 21163, Jordan. Tel.: +962 797708510.
E-mail addresses: haythem@yu.edu.jo, haythem@ece.arizona.edu.

0895-7177/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mcm.2010.06.044

H.A. Bany Salameh / Mathematical and Computer Modelling 53 (2011) 21082118

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A CRN should dynamically utilize spectrum opportunities (idle PR channels) and adapt its operating parameters according
to the surrounding environment such that the PRNs performance is not negatively affected. Specifically, CR users should
frequently sense their operating frequency channels for active PR users, and should vacate these channels if a PR signal
is detected. Thus, to enable an efficient OSA, the operation of a CRN should address two essential issues: (1) identifying
spectrum opportunities (i.e., idle PR channels that are potentially available for CR transmissions), and (2) providing an
efficient reuse of such opportunities (achieving the maximum possible CRN throughput). While several studies have
focused on the first issue based on channel sensing in a cooperative or non-cooperative manner, the second issue is still a
challenging problem in a multi-user CRN. Thus, in this paper, we tackle the following question: given the available spectrum
opportunities at different CR users, what is the optimal channel assignment strategy in a multi-user single-transceiver CRN
that efficiently utilizes those opportunities and achieves the maximum possible network throughput?
1.1. Related work
Recently, several attempts were made to develop channel assignment/access mechanisms for CRNs (e.g., [313]).
The spectrum access mechanism in [3] jointly optimizes the multi-channel power/rate assignment, assuming a given
power mask on CR transmissions. DDMAC [4] is a spectrum-sharing protocol for CRNs that attempts to maximize the
number of simultaneous CR transmissions through a novel probabilistic channel assignment algorithm that exploits the
dependence between the signals attenuation model and the transmission distance while considering the prevailing traffic
and interference conditions. DDMAC assumes a given rate demand per a CR user. AS-MAC [5] is a spectrum-sharing protocol
for CRNs that coexist with a GSM network. CR users select channels based on the CRNs control exchanges and GSM broadcast
information. Explicit coordination with the PRNs is required. In [8], the authors developed a spectrum aware channel access
protocol for CRNs (CMAC). CMAC enables opportunistic access and sharing of the available white spaces in the TV spectrum
by adaptively allocating the spectrum among contending users. In [11], the interference temperature model [14] is used to
select an optimal bandwidth/power assignment for CR users. COMAC [12] is a distributed MAC protocol for opportunistic
CRNs. It improves spectrum utilization while statistically guaranteeing the performance of PR users. Specifically, COMAC
ensures a statistical (soft) guarantee on the performance of PRNs. In [13], the authors developed a power control approach
for CR systems based on spectrum sensing side information. The objective of such an approach is to mitigate the interference
to a PR user from CR transmissions. Three spectrum-sharing techniques were proposed and compared in [15]: spreadingbased underlay, interference avoidance overlay, and spreading-based underlay with interference avoidance. The metric of
interest in the comparison was pout .
Most of these schemes were designed assuming that each CR user is equipped with multiple transceivers, which may
not be true for low-cost CR systems. In addition, these schemes are often based on a purely greedy strategy of using the
best idle channel for a given CR transmission.1 As reported in [4], employing a greedy strategy in a CRN may result in a
significant reduction in the achievable network throughput. Therefore, new distributed channel assignment algorithms and
MAC protocols are needed for single-transceiver CRNs. These solutions should provide a better spectrum utilization.
1.2. Contribution
In this paper, we first investigate the spectrum access problem under hardware, interference, maximum transmission
power, and received SINR constraints. Our design goal is to maximize the sum-rate achieved by all CR users, with
respect to both channel assignment and transmission rate. The transmission rate in our setup depends on the PHY-layer
implementation. Hence, unlike the case in previous works, our treatment is not restricted to the information-theoretic
capacity,2 and can be applied to any arbitrarily given rateSINR function. Specifically, the contribution of this paper is
as follows. We first show that the joint rate/power control and channel assignment problem can be formulated as a
mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP). To make this formulation more amenable for further processing, we note
that actual communication systems only have a finite number of available channels, each associated with a maximum
transmission power. Based on this fact, we transfer our MINLP to a BLP that only contains binary variables (i.e., we transfer
our problem to rate/channel selection problem). This transformation applies to any arbitrarily given rateSINR relationship.
Then, we show that this BLP has a unimodular constraint matrix, and hence it can be optimally solved in polynomial time.
Finally, we present a decentralized channel access protocol that realizes the optimal channel assignment in a distributed
manner. Our proposed protocol is novel in three aspects. First, it is designed assuming a single-transceiver per CR user, and
thus represents more realistic scenarios. Second, it employs an optimal channel assignment algorithm that cooperatively
maximizes the achieved sum-rate, and thus can exploit the available spectrum more efficiently. Third, it does not assume
any predefined rateSINR relationship, and thus can be applied to any arbitrarily given rateSINR function.
To evaluate the performance of our proposed spectrum access mechanism, we conduct simulations over a CRN assuming
a Rayleigh fading channel model. Our simulation results show that compared to typical CRN spectrum access schemes, our
scheme significantly improves network throughput by up to 35% and preserves fairness.
1 The best channel is often defined as the one that supports the highest rate. We refer to this approach as the greedy approach.
2 The information-theoretic capacity is a logarithmic function of the received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR).

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H.A. Bany Salameh / Mathematical and Computer Modelling 53 (2011) 21082118

Rate
R4
R3
R2
R1
SINRth1 SINRth2

SINRth4

SINR

Fig. 1. Rate/SINR relationship.

1.3. Organization
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The system model is presented in Section 2. In Section 3, we formulate
and solve the optimal channel assignment problem. The proposed spectrum access mechanism that employs the optimal
assignment is described in Section 4. Section 5 presents the simulation results comparing our proposed solution with a
baseline mechanism. Section 6 concludes the paper.
2. Network model
We consider a distributed CRN that coexists with M licensed PRNs over a finite area. The PRNs are licensed on different,
non-overlapping frequency bands. We assume that all the PRN bands have the same Fourier bandwidth BW . In reality, a PRN
may occupy multiple, non-contiguous, unequal frequency bands. Such a PRN can be easily represented in our setup by using
multiple equal-bandwidth virtual PRNs, each operating over its own carrier frequency. For the ith PRN, we denote its carrier
frequency by fi . Each CR user is equipped with one half-duplex transceiver, and can only transmit (or receive) on one channel only. Without loss of generality, we assume that the bandwidth BW of a channel is sufficient to support at least one CR
transmission. This is an acceptable assumption in many wireless systems that are built to operate in the unlicensed bands,
including IEEE 802.11/a/b/g-compliant devices. To avoid corrupting the transmissions of licensed PR users, CR users continuously identify potential spectrum holes (idle PR channels) and opportunistically exploit them for their transmissions.3
Within a given neighborhood, multiple CR transmissions may contend for access to one of the available channels. Let
C (t ) and N (t ) respectively denote the set of all C (t ) idle channels and the set of all N (t ) CR transmission requests in a
given neighborhood at a given time t. Note that the set of available channels C (t ) is time varying (i.e., heavily depends on
the PR activities) and can be identified based on channel sensing information. Because our focus is to obtain an optimal
channel assignment at a given time t (i.e., in current snapshot), in what follow, we drop the time subscript (t) for notational
convenience. We say the jth CR transmission (j N ) is successful if the following condition is met: It is possible to find an
(i)
idle channel i from the set C such that the received SINR of the selected channel i (SINRj ) is greater than the SINR threshold
(i ) that is required at the CR receiver of the jth transmission to achieve a target bit error rate over channel i. Formally, for
(i)

transmission j and channel i, the transmission rate, denoted by Rj , j N and i C , is obtained as follows:
(i)

Rj =

(i)

f (SINRj ) Mbps,
0,

(i)

if SINRj i
otherwise

(1)

where f (.) is any arbitrary rateSINR function (e.g., Shannons equation, staircase function, etc.) that is decided by the PHYlayer implementation. It is worth mentioning that, in practice, this rateSINR function takes the shape of a staircase, as
shown in Fig. 1.
Finally, to resolve collision between CR transmissions, we enforce an exclusive channel occupancy policy on CR
transmissions, whereby a channel i assigned to a CR transmission j cannot be simultaneously assigned to another CR
transmission in the same vicinity (inline with the CSMA/CA mechanism).
3. Optimal channel assignment
3.1. Maximum sum-rate single-transceiver problem
Given the set of CR transmission requests N , the set of idle channels C , the maximum transmission powers over idle
channels, our objective is to maximize the sum of rate of all CR transmissions over all channels in the current snapshot
(i.e., a given time t), subject to the following constraints:
a. A CR transmitter (receiver) can transmit (receive) over only one channel at a given time.
3 The FCC recently adopted three principal methods that can be used to determine the list of idle channels that is potentially available for CR transmissions
at a given time and in a given geographical location [16].

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2111

b. An idle channel cannot be assigned to more than one CR transmission in the same locality.
c. A CR user can potentially access channel i if and only if the received SINR over channel i exceeds the pre-specified
threshold i .
(i)
(i)
d. For a CR transmission j and idle channel i, the transmission power Pj is limited to Pmax . If channel i is occupied by a
(i)

(i)

PR user, Pj = 0, where Pmax is the smaller of the FCC regulatory maximum transmission power over channel i and the
maximum power supported by the CRs battery.
Observation 1. In general, the transmission rate is an increasing function of the transmission power. Thus, for a CR
transmission j and a channel i, the maximum achievable transmission rate is achieved when transmission j uses the
(i)
maximum possible transmit power (Pmax ) over that channel. 
3.2. Problem formulation
Our objective is to maximize the sum of rate of all CR transmissions over all channels in current snapshot, by the means
(i)
of optimal channel/rate assignment. Before formulating the problem, we define a binary variable xj as follows:
(i)

xj =

1,
0,

if channel i is assigned to transmission j

otherwise.

(2)

Hence, the maximum sum-rate single-transceiver problem is stated as follows:

Maximizex(i) ,R(i) ,P (i)

j

(i) (i)

R j xj

jN iC

Subject to

jN

(i)

xj 1,
(i)

xj 1,

iC

i C
(3)

j N

(i)

(i)

SINRj i (xj 1)
(i)

0 Pj

(i)
Pmax
,

i C and j N
(i)

where is a relatively large constant 1 and Pj

is the transmit power of the jth transmission over channel i. Recall that

(i)

(i)

SINRj is a function of Pj .
3.3. Solution
An observation of the objective function of (3) and the constraints shows that this formulation, in general, constitutes a
mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, which belongs to the class of NP-hard problems (i.e., computing the
optimal solution for such problem grows exponentially with the size of the network) [4,17,18]. However, by exploiting the
fact that actual communication systems have a finite number of available channels, each associated with a pre-specified
maximum transmission power, we transfer this MINLP into a unimodular BLP that can be solved in polynomial time.
Formally, given the set of idle channels and the associated maximum transmission powers over these channels, a CR
(i)
(i)
transmission can compute the maximum achievable rates rj over each idle channel (see Observation 1). For all SINRj < i ,
(i)

where j N and i C , we set rj

following BLP problem:
Maximizex(i)
j

= 0. Given rj(i) , j N and i C , the MINLP problem can be transformed into the

(i) (i)

r j xj

jN iC

Subject to

jN

(i)

xj 1,
(i)

xj 1,

i C

(4)

j N .

iC

Let A and b denote the linear constraint matrix and the right hand side of (4), respectively. Due to its integrality nature, the
BLP in (4) is expected to be NP-hard. However, we show that its constraint matrix satisfies the total unimodularity property
(see Lemma 1), and hence our problem can be optimally solved in polynomial time using linear programming (LP) (see
Lemma 2).
Lemma 1. The constraint matrix A of the formulation in (4) is totally unimodular (refer to Appendix A for the concept of
unimodularity).
Proof. Refer to Appendix B.

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Lemma 2. The BLP in (4) can be solved in polynomial time using standard LP methods (i.e., it has a polynomial-time complexity).
Proof. Because the objective function of (4) is a linear function, the constraints are linear, A is unimodular, and b is integer,
our BLP in (4) satisfies the unimodularity property (i.e., unimodular BLP). It is well known that for a unimodular BLP, the
optimal solution of its linear program relaxation is the optimal solution of the original unimodular BLP [19]. Therefore, the
optimal solution of the BLP in (4) can be exactly found in polynomial time using the standard LP techniques. Consequently,
finding the optimal solution of (4) has a polynomial-time complexity. 
Remark 1. According to our treatment, CR users adopt a binary-level transmission power strategy, in which the
transmission power over channel i, i M is given by:
(i)

Pt

(i)
Pmax
,
0,

if channel i is idle;
if channel i is occupied by a PR user.

(5)

It is worth mentioning that most of previously proposed spectrum access/sharing protocols and algorithms for CRNs were
designed assuming the binary-level transmission power strategy given in (5) (e.g., [8,11,2022]). This strategy ensures a
non-overlapping (collision-free) channel occupancy between CR and PR users.
4. Proposed channel access mechanism
4.1. Overview
Based on the optimal channel assignment algorithm presented in Section 3, we now describe the proposed channel access
protocol for CRNs. This protocol uses contention-based handshaking for exchanging control information. Our protocol is
designed to (1) ensure exclusive channel occupancy policy (i.e., non-overlapping local channel occupancy between CR users)
and (2) realize the optimal channel assignment in a distributed manner. It is worth mentioning that providing a reliable
mechanism for exchanging control information (e.g., transmitterreceiver handshake, sensing information exchange, etc.)
is a challenging problem in designing MAC protocols for CRNs [2]. To deal with this challenge, many techniques for providing
such a reliable control channel for CR users have been proposed in the literature, including (1) pre-specified common control
channel (CCC) approach, (2) dynamic local control channel approach, and (3) hopping-based control channel approach [2].
For our purposes, we assume that the common control channel approach is in place for exchanging control information
between CR users, where a common control channel is available to all CR users. This channel is pre-specified but is not
necessarily dedicated (i.e., licensed) to the CRN. For example, it can be one of the unlicensed ISM bands. It may, for example,
be one of the unlicensed ISM bands. Note that the existence of a common control channel is a characteristic of many MAC
protocols proposed for CRNs (e.g., [35,7,8,10,23,24]).
4.2. Channel contention
4.2.1. Admission control phase
According to the optimal channel assignment, the set of idle channels C and the instantaneous SINR information of all
contending CR users in a given neighborhood should be known to all CR users in that neighborhood before assigning channels
and transmission rates. Given the set C , the issue of announcing the SINR information of all contending users can be handled
during the admission phase by introducing a contention period known as the access window (AW). The AW consists of C
fixed-duration access slots (AS), where the size of the AW is dynamically adjusted based on the number of available channels
C (Fig. 2 illustrates the concept of AW admission control). A series of control packet exchanges take place during these slots,
in which communicating CR users announce their instantaneous SINR information. It is worth mentioning that the use of
an AW for contention was previously proposed in MACA-P and POWMAC protocols [25,26]. However, in both protocols,
the objective was not to facilitate the channel assignment mechanism, but to resolve collisions between control and data
packets and address single-channel transmission power control.
4.2.2. Operation details
A CR user that has packets to transmit and that is not aware of any already established AW in its neighborhood can
asynchronously initiate an AW. Each AS consists of the sum of an RTS duration, a CTS duration, and a maximum backoff
interval. Control packets are sent at the maximum (known) transmission power imposed on the control channel. Upon
receiving an RTS packet from a CR user, say A, that is initiating an AW, other CR users in the network synchronize their
time reference with As AW. Suppose that a CR user D is aware of As AW, and has a data packet to transmit. D contends
for the control channel in the next AS of Ds AW as follows. To prevent synchronized RTS attempts, D first backs off for a
random duration of time (T ) that is uniformly distributed in the interval [0, Tmax ]; Tmax is a system-wide backoff counter.
After this backoff time and if no carrier is sensed over the control channel, user C sends its control packet in the current AS.
After all the control packets have been exchanged, the optimal channel assignment/rate allocation of Section 3 is executed
at every communicating CR user. In the rest of this paper, we refer to the channel access mechanism that uses our optimal
assignment as OPT-MAC.

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2113

Contension Window
(Announcing SINR info.)

AW

AS1

AS2

ASc1
t

Start Assignment Process

Fig. 2. Example that illustrates the concept of dynamic AW in CRNs with C = C1 .

Remark 2. In our study, we consider the coordinated spectrum access problem in a single-hop CRN, where all CR users can
hear each other. The primary advantage of our scheme is that it is based on passive learning. This is because in OPT-MAC, CR
users when not transmitting/receiving (i.e., during admission control phase) always listen to the control channel in order to
overhear control packet exchanges, including those not destined to them. Contending CR users use the control information
to extract instantaneous SINR information and idle channel lists. Thus, our MAC protocol does not introduce any additional
control message overhead beyond the two-way handshake, which is indeed needed for any CSMA/CA-based multi-channel
CRN MAC protocol.
Claim 1. The OPT-MAC protocol and any CSMA/CA-based multi-channel CRN MAC protocol have comparable overheads (i.e., a
two-way handshake is needed to send one data packet).
5. Performance evaluation
We compare the performance of our proposed protocol (OPT-MAC) with two CSMA-based CRN MAC protocols:
COMAC [12] and DDMAC [4]. As mentioned in Section 1.1, COMAC employs a greedy channel assignment strategy of using the
best idle channel for a given CR transmission. On the other hand, DDMAC attempts to maximize the CRN throughput through
a probabilistic channel assignment algorithm that exploits the dependence between the signals attenuation model and
the transmission distance while considering the prevailing traffic and interference conditions. In our evaluation, we study
the network performance under two different rateSINR relationships: the information-theoretic capacity (i.e., Shannons
equation) and a staircase-like function4 similar to the one shown in Fig. 1.
Our results are based on simulation experiments conducted using CSIM programs (CSIM is a C-based process-oriented
discrete-event simulation package [27]). Our performance metrics are the CRN sum-rate, and the fairness. We use the
fairness index in [28] to quantify the fairness of a scheme according to the sum-rate of all CR users in the network. A Rayleigh
fading signal propagation model to describe the channel gain between any two CR users is considered. Specifically, for a
transmitterreceiver separation d, the received power over the ith channel is given by:
Pr

(i)

(i)

(i)

= Po

where Po =

do (i)

(i) (i)
Pt (i) Gt Gr l2i
(i)
(4 do )2
(i)
power, Gt

(i) ,

d do (i)

(6)

is the path loss of the close-in distance do (i) = max{ 2Dl , D, li }, D is the antenna length, Pt (i) is the
2

(i)

transmission
is the antenna gain at the transmitter, Gr is the antenna gain at the receiver, li is the wavelength of
fi , n is the path loss exponent, and (i) is a normalized random variable that represents the power gain of the fading process.
For Rayleigh fading, (i) is exponentially distributed; Pr( (i) y) = 1 ey [29].
5.1. Simulation setup
We consider N pairs of one-hop transmitterreceiver CR users in a 100 m 100 m area. To simplify our simulation, we
assume that all CR users are within the transmission range of each other, so that any control packet sent from a CR can be
heard by all other CR users. The locations of the CR transmitters and receivers are randomly assigned within the simulation
region. We assume that there are M = 11 channels, each has 2.5 MHz of bandwidth and licensed to one PRN. The carrier

4 A staircase-like rateSINR function typically characterizes practical multi-rate systems.

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H.A. Bany Salameh / Mathematical and Computer Modelling 53 (2011) 21082118

Table 1
RateSINR relationship.
Rate index

Rate (Mbps)

SINRth

R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
R8

1
4.5
6
7
8.5
9.5
10.5
11

1
5
7
10
15
20
25
31

120
120
100

CRN Sum-rate (Mbps)

CRN Sum-rate (Mbps)

100
Opt-MAC,*=3

80

Opt-MAC,*=9

60

COMAC*=3
COMAC,*=9

40

OPT-MAC,*=3

80

OPT-MAC,*=9

60

COMAC,*=3
COMAC,*=9

40

DDMAC,*=3
DDMAC,*=3

DDMAC,*=9

20

20
DDMAC,*=9

8
10
12
14
Number of CR Links (N)

16

(a) Assuming Shannon capacity formula.

18

8
10
12
14
Number of CR Links (N)

16

18

(b) Assuming staircase formula.

Fig. 3. CRN sum-rate vs. number of CR links N.

frequency of the ith PRN is fi = 900 + i MHz, for i = 1, . . . , M. CR users can opportunistically access the 11 channels. We
set i = , i M . For the simulated staircase rateSINR function, the values of the different supported rates and their
corresponding SINR thresholds are summarized in Table 1. Note that for both the information-theoretic and the staircase
rateSINR functions, the achieved rate is 0 if the received SINR < . We divide the time into slots, each of length 100
ms. A 2-state Markov model that alternates between two states: IDLE and BUSY is considered to determine the status of a
PR channel at any given time. A BUSY (IDLE) state indicates that some (no) PR user is transmitting over the given channel.
For channel i, denote the average IDLE and BUSY durations of the PR activity by i and i , respectively. At any given time
(i)
i
. We set i = 100 ms and i = , i {1, . . . , M }. Accordingly,
slot, the ith PRN is idle with probability PB = +
(i)

PB = PB , i M . The locations of the CR transmitters and receivers are randomly assigned within the simulation region.
We set the maximum transmission power of a CR user to Pmax = 1 W, the thermal noise power density to 1021 W/Hz for
all channels, the path loss exponent to n = 4, and the antenna length to D = 5 cm. The results presented below are based
on the average of 30 randomly generated topologies, with a simulation time of 5000 time slots for each topology.
5.2. Simulation results
We first compare the achieved sum-rate of all CR links for OPT-MAC, COMAC, and DDMAC protocols. The CRN sum-rate
is plotted as a function of the number of active CR links in Fig. 3. In Fig. 3(a) (Fig. 3(b)), we consider Shannons equation (the
staircase function) to compute the achieved rates over idle channels for each active CR link. Fig. 3 shows that as the number
of CR users increases, OPT-MAC significantly outperforms COMAC and DDMAC, irrespective of the employed rateSINR
relationship. Specifically, OPT-MAC improves the overall achieved sum-rate by up to 35% compared to COMAC and up to 25%
compared to DDMAC. This improvement is mostly attributed to the employed proper channel assignment. Fig. 4 shows the
achievable sum-rate as a function of PR activities (PB ). Fig. 4 reveals that the throughput gain of OPT-MAC over COMAC and
DDMAC is smaller at larger PB . This is expected since the larger the value of PB , the lower the chances of finding idle channels,
which consequently reduces the performance gain (similar behavior was observed when staircase rateSINR function is
used). Fig. 5 shows the achievable sum-rate as a function of SINR threshold ( ). This figure reveals that the throughput
gain of OPT-MAC over COMAC and DDMAC is larger at larger .

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2115

140
Opt-MAC,*=3

120
CRN Sum-rate (Mbps)

Opt-MAC,*=9

100

COMAC*=3
COMAC,*=9

80

DDMAC *=3

60

DDMAC *=9

40
20
0
0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5
PB

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Fig. 4. CRN sum-rate vs. PB , assuming Shannon capacity formula.

120

125

OPT-MAC, N=10

Opt-MAC, N=10

120

Opt-MAC, N=18

OPT-MAC, N=18

115

COMAC, N=10

CRN Sum-rate (Mbps)

CRN Sum-rate (Mbps)

COMAC, N=10

115

COMAC, N=18
DDMAC, N=10

110

DDMAC, N=18

105

COMAC, N=18

110

DDMAC, N=10
DDMAC, N=18

105

100

100
95

95
90

5
*

90

(a) Assuming Shannon capacity formula.

5
*

(b) Assuming staircase formula.

Fig. 5. CRN sum-rate vs. SINR threshold, assuming Shannon formula.

1
0.99

Fairness Index

0.98

OPT-MAC,*=3
COMAC,*=3

0.97
0.96
0.95
0.94
0.93
0.92

10
N

12

14

16

18

Fig. 6. Fairness index vs. number of CR links (N) for = 3 (DDMAC depicted similar behavior as OPT-MAC).

In Fig. 6, we study the impact of the channel assignment strategy on fairness. We set mu = 3. It is clear that all protocols
achieve comparable fairness (other values of depicted similar fairness behavior). This can be attributed to the fact that, in

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10
9

Channel Usage (%)

8
OPT-MAC

COMAC

6
5
4
3
2
1
0

5
6
7
8
Channel Number

10

11

12

Fig. 7. Channel usage (%) for = 3 and N = 18 (DDMAC depicted similar behavior as OPT-MAC).

all protocols, CR users contend over the control channel using a variant of the CSMA/CA mechanism. Finally, Fig. 7 depicts,
for = 3, the channel usage, defined as the fraction of time in which a specific channel is used for CR transmissions.
For all protocols, channel usage is roughly evenly distributed among all channels, irrespective of the number of CR
links.5
6. Conclusions
In this paper, we proposed a solution to solve the joint rate control and channel assignment problem for the coordinated
channel access in opportunistic CRNs. Our solution improves the CRN throughput through an optimal channel assignment
process. The assignment process dynamically assigns channels to CR transmissions with the objective of maximizing the
achieved CRN sum-rate and subject to interference and SINR constraints. In order to realize our solution in a distributed
manner, we developed a CSMA/CA-based MAC protocol (OPT-MAC) for CRNs with access window (AW). The purpose of
the AW is to announce CR transmission requests, idle channel list, and SINR information; and resolve contention between
CR transmissions. We compared the performance of OPT-MAC with that of two multi-channel CSMA/CA-based CRN MAC
(i.e., COMAC and DDMAC) protocols. We showed that our protocol achieves about 35% (25%) increase in throughput over
the COMAC (DDMAC) protocol, while preserves fairness. In summary, OPT-MAC provides better spectrum utilization by
achieving a larger network throughput.
Appendix A
A.1. Concept of unimodularity
Definition 1. A matrix B is said to be totally unimodular if the determinant of every square submatrix (minor) of B is in the
set {1, 0, 1} [30]. The following theorem provides sufficient but not necessary conditions for a matrix of 0s and 1s to be
totally unimodular.
Theorem 1. An m n matrix B is totally unimodular if its rows can be partitioned into two disjoint matrices B1 and B2, with
the following properties [30]:

Every entry in B is 0 or 1.
Every column of B contains at most two 1s.
Every column of B1 and B2 contains at most one non-zero element.
Appendix B
B.1. Proof of total unimodularity of the constraint matrix

To prove this, we partition the matrix A into two disjoint matrices A1 (N CN) and A2 (C CN), (i.e., A = A1A2 ), where
A1 and A2 correspond to the first and second constraints in (4), respectively. The matrices A1 and A2 can be written as:
5 Other values of depicted similar channel-usage behavior.

H.A. Bany Salameh / Mathematical and Computer Modelling 53 (2011) 21082118

C

1 . . . 1

0 . . . 0

A1 =
0 . . . 0

.
..

2117

0...0

...

...

1...1

0...0

...

0...0

..
.

1...1
..
.

...
..
.

...

...

...

0...0

0 . . . 0

0 . . . 0

0 . . . 0

..
.

C

1 . . . 1 N CN

(7)

and

10 . . . 0

010 . . . 0

A2 =
0010 . . . 0

..

C

0...1

10 . . . 0

...

010 . . . 0

...

0010 . . . 0

..
.

...
..
.

0...1

...

C

10 . . . 0

010 . . . 0

.

0010 . . . 0

..

C

0...1
C CN

(8)

Note that A, A1, and A2 satisfy all the sufficient conditions of total unimodularity given in Theorem 1. Therefore A is
totally unimodular. 
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