Design of Spectrum Database Assisted Cognitive Radio Vehicular Networks

Recent FCC rulings in the US, mandating spectrum databases for white spaces unlicensed access, raise interesting challenges on the placement of road-side base stations (BS) connected to spectrum databases distributing spectrum knowledge to cognitive radios embedded in passing by vehicles. This paper takes the first step towards developing an analytical framework for determining the topology of such a vehicular network, where the network components are the spectrum database, multiple BSs and moving vehicles in different traffic conditions. Our framework not only adheres to the FCC specifications, but it also provides a cost-revenue analysis given the environmental parameters such as vehicular density, BS road coverage and the tradeoffs between local vs. database assisted sensing, thereby making this a potential tool for future network design. A comprehensive simulation study is undertaken using real traffic traces to show the application and benefit of our method in a practical setting.