2nd International ICST Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks and Communications

Research Article

A Distributed Multichannel MAC Protocol for Cognitive Radio Networks with Primary User Recognition

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1109/CROWNCOM.2007.4549799,
        author={Michael Timmers and Antoine Dejonghe and Liesbet Van der Perre and Francky Catthoor},
        title={A Distributed Multichannel MAC Protocol for Cognitive Radio Networks with Primary User Recognition},
        proceedings={2nd International ICST Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks and Communications},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={CROWNCOM},
        year={2008},
        month={6},
        keywords={Multichannel MAC cognitive radio},
        doi={10.1109/CROWNCOM.2007.4549799}
    }
    
  • Michael Timmers
    Antoine Dejonghe
    Liesbet Van der Perre
    Francky Catthoor
    Year: 2008
    A Distributed Multichannel MAC Protocol for Cognitive Radio Networks with Primary User Recognition
    CROWNCOM
    IEEE
    DOI: 10.1109/CROWNCOM.2007.4549799
Michael Timmers1,2,*, Antoine Dejonghe1,*, Liesbet Van der Perre1,*, Francky Catthoor1,2,*
  • 1: Interuniversity Micro Electronics Center, IMEC Wireless Research, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
  • 2: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Dept. of Electrotechnical Eng., Kasteelpark Arenberg 10 B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
*Contact email: timmers@imec.be, dejonghe@imec.be, vdperre@imec.be, catthoor@imec.be

Abstract

A Cognitive Radio (CR) network should be able to sense its environment and adapt communication to utilize unused licensed spectrum without interfering with the licensed users. In this paper we will look at CR-enabled networks with distributed control. Since CR nodes will need to hop from channel to channel to make the most use of the spectrum opportunities, we believe distributed multichannel MAC protocols to be key enablers for these networks. Besides the spectrum scarcity, energy is rapidly becoming one of the major bottlenecks of wireless operations and has to be considered as a key design criterion. We present here an energy-efficient distributed multichannel MAC protocol for CR networks. Simulation results show that this protocol significantly improves performance by borrowing licensed spectrum and protects primary users from interference, even in hidden terminal situations. Sensing costs are evaluated and shown to contribute only 5% to the total energy cost.