M. Tech. Electrical Engineering. / Discusses the performance of CRs that can be hampered by the environment, modulation schemes and how they can be selected based on the current environment i.e link adaptation, bandwidth efficient schemes and those that are prone to noise, formulate a set of decisions and actions based on the knowledge about the current environment and its effects on propagation and how to use a game theoretic approach for fair use of the spectrum.

Opportunistic spectrum reuse is a promising solution to the two main causes of spectrum scarcity: most of the radio frequency (RF) bands are allocated by static licensing, and many of them are underutilized. Frequency spectrum can be more efficiently utilized by allowing communication systems to find out unoccupied spectrum and to use it harmlessly to the licensed users. Reliable sensing of these spectral opportunities is perhaps the most essential element of this technology. Despite significant work on spectrum sensing, further performance improvement is needed to approach its full potential. In this dissertation, wireless spectrum sensing networks (WSSNs) are investigated for reliable detection of the primary (licensed) users, that enables efficient spectrum utilization and minimal power consumption in communications. Reliable spectrum sensing is studied in depth in two parts: a single sensor algorithm and then cooperative sensing are proposed based on a spectral covariance sensing (SCS). The first novel contribution uses different statistical correlations of the received signal and noise in the frequency domain. This detector is analyzed theoretically and verified through realistic simulations using actual digital television signals captured in the US. The proposed SCS detector achieves significant improvement over the existing solutions in terms of sensitivity and also robustness to noise uncertainty. Second, SCS is extended to a distributed WSSN architecture to allow cooperation between 2 or more sensors. Theoretical limits of cooperative white space sensing under correlated shadowing are investigated. We analyze the probability of a false alarm when each node in the WSSN detects the white space using the SCS detection and the base station combines individual results to make the final decision. The detection performance compared with that of the cooperative energy detector is improved and fewer sensor nodes are needed to achieve the same sensitivity. Third, we propose a low power source coding and modulation scheme for power efficient communication between the sensor nodes in WSSN. Complete analysis shows that the proposed scheme not only minimizes total power consumption in the network but also improves bit error rate (BER). / text

Όπως δηλώνει και ο τίτλος, η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία διαπραγματεύεται διάφορες τεχνικές για την ανίχνευση του φάσματος σε cognitive radio SIMO συστήματα. Η συμβατική προσέγγιση της διαχείρισης του φάσματος δεν είναι ευέλικτη καθώς με το περισσότερο χρήσιμο τμήμα του ραδιοφάσματος να είναι δεσμευμένο, είναι εξαιρετικά δύσκολο να βρεθούν ελεύθερες συχνότητες για την ανάπτυξη νέων υπηρεσιών ή για τον εμπλουτισμό των ήδη υπαρχόντων, ενώ ταυτόχρονα, διάφορες μετρήσεις έχουν καταδείξει ότι το αδειοδοτημένο φάσμα σπάνια χρησιμοποιείται πλήρως, τόσο ως προς το πεδίο του χρόνου όσο και ως προς το πεδίο του χώρου. Έτσι, η τεχνολογία του Cognitive Radio (Γνωστικά Συστήματα Ραδιοεπικοινωνιών) έρχεται να προσφέρει λύση, κυρίως, στα παραπάνω ζητήματα παρέχοντας δυναμική εκμετάλλευση του φάσματος. Η τεχνολογία του Cognitive Radio έχει προταθεί για μικρότερης προτεραιότητας δευτερεύοντα συστήματα αποσκοπώντας στη βελτίωση της αποδοτικότητας του διαθέσιμου φάσματος μέσω της ανίχνευσής του και επιτρέποντας στα δευτερεύοντα αυτά συστήματα να εκπέμπουν στις μπάντες που εντοπίζονται να μη χρησιμοποιούνται. Όπως γίνεται εύκολα αντιληπτό από τα παραπάνω, η ανίχνευση φάσματος (spectrum sensing) αποτελεί ένα ιδιαιτέρως κρίσιμο θέμα για τα cognitive συστήματα. Για να επιτευχθεί η προσαρμοστική μετάδοση σε αχρησιμοποίητα τμήματα φάσματος, χωρίς να προκαλούνται παρεμβολές στους βασικούς χρήστες αυτών των τμημάτων (Primary Users-PUs), το spectrum sensing αποτελεί το πρώτο και ένα από τα κυριότερα βήματα, καθώς απαιτείται υψηλή αξιοπιστία στην ανίχνευση του σήματος των PUs. Οι δευτερεύοντες χρήστες (Secondary Users-SUs), δηλαδή, θα πρέπει να γνωρίζουν αν το φάσμα χρησιμοποιείται ώστε να αξιοποιήσουν το διαθέσιμο φάσμα με τον πιο αποτελεσματικό τρόπο. Ουσιαστικά, το spectrum sensing εφαρμόζεται για να δώσει στον cognitive χρήστη μια όσο το δυνατόν πιστότερη εικόνα του περιβάλλοντος στο οποίο βρίσκεται. Σκοπό της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας αποτελεί η μελέτη και η ανάπτυξη αλγορίθμων που θα επιτρέπουν στον SU ενός SIMO συστήματος να ανιχνεύει την ύπαρξη φασματικών κενών. Η υλοποίηση που χρησιμοποιήσαμε βασίζεται στη χρήση ενός predictor. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, το σήμα που λαμβάνει ο δέκτης περνά από ένα backward linear predictor από τον οποίο υπολογίζουμε τη διαφορά του προβλεπόμενου σήματος σε σχέση με το πραγματικό, δηλαδή το σφάλμα πρόβλεψης. Αξιοποιώντας κατάλληλα το σφάλμα πρόβλεψης, και πιο συγκεκριμένα τον πίνακα αυτοσυσχέτισης του σφάλματος, μας δίνεται η δυνατότητα να ανιχνεύσουμε αξιόπιστα την ύπαρξη ή την απουσία σήματος, ακόμα και σε θορυβώδη περιβάλλοντα, δηλαδή για χαμηλές τιμές του λόγου σήματος προς θόρυβο. Για τον έλεγχο της απόδοσης των αλγορίθμων που αναπτύξαμε, το παραπάνω σύστημα εξομοιώθηκε σε MATLAB για διάφορες συνθήκες και κανάλια / In the present thesis, we will study spectrum sensing techniques of Cognitive Radio SIMO systems. The conventional approach to spectrum management is not flexible, as most of the useful part of the spectrum is bounded. Hence it is extremely difficult to find free frequencies in order to deploy new services or to enhance the already existing ones. At the same time, various measurements show that the licensed spectrum is heavily underutilized in terms of both the time domain as well as the space domain. Thus Cognitive Radio technology comes to offer solutions, mainly with regard to the issues mentioned above, providing a dynamic utilization of the spectrum. Cognitive Radio has been proposed for lower priority secondary systems intending to improve spectral efficiency through spectrum sensing thus allowing these systems to transmit at frequency bands that are detected to be unused. As we can easily understand from the above, spectrum sensing is a critical issue for cognitive systems. In order to achieve adaptive transmission in unused portions of the spectrum without interferences to the licensed users of these portions (Primary Users-PUs), spectrum sensing is the first and one of the most important steps as high reliability is demanded on PUs' signal detection. That is, Secondary Users (SUs) should know if the spectrum is being used in order to exploit the available spectrum in the most efficient way. Essentially, spectrum sensing is used in order to provide the cognitive user with a representation of its operating environment which is as faithful as possible. The scope of this thesis is the study and the creation of algorithms that will give the SU of a SIMO system the opportunity to detect the existence of spectrum holes. The implementation we used is based on a predictor. More specifically, the received signal passes through a backward linear predictor from which we compute the difference between the actual signal and the predicted signal, which is the prediction error. By properly exploiting the prediction error, more precisely the autocorrelation matrix of the prediction error, we can trustworthily detect the existence or the absence of a signal, even in noisy environments, that is, for low values of the signal-to-noise ratio. In order to test the performance of our algorithms, the system above was simulated by MATLAB for different conditions and channels.

Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) provide a solution for the spectrum scarcity problem facing the wireless communications community. However, due to the infancy of CRNs, further research is needed before we can truly benefit from CRNs. The basic concept of CRNs relies on utilizing the unused spectrum of a primary network, without interfering with the activity of primary users (PUs). In order to successfully achieve that, users in a CRN has to perform spectrum sensing, spectrum management, spectrum mobility, and spectrum sharing. The latter, which is the focus of our research, deals with how secondary users (SUs) share the unused spectrum. Furthermore, to be able to utilize CRNs in practical applications, a certain level of quality-of-service (QoS) should be guaranteed to SUs in such networks. QoS requirements vary according to the application. Interested in voice communications, we propose a packet scheduling scheme that orders the SUs' transmissions according to the packet dropping rate and the number of packets queued waiting for transmission. Two medium access control (MAC) layer protocols, based on the mentioned scheduling scheme, are proposed for a centralized CRN. In addition, the scheduling scheme is adapted for a distributed CRN, by introducing a feature that allows SUs to organize access to the available spectrum without the need for a central unit. Finally, extensive simulation based experiments are carried out to evaluate the proposed protocols and compare their performance with that of other MAC protocols designed for CRNs. These results reflect the effectiveness of our proposed protocols to guarantee the required QoS for voice packet transmission, while maintaining fairness among SUs in a CRN.

The present dissertation deals with how to use the precious wireless resources that are usually wasted by under-utilization of networks. We have been particularly interested by all resources that can be used in an opportunistic fashion using different technologies. We have designed new schemes for better and more efficient use of wireless systems by providing mathematical frameworks. In the first part, We have been interested in cognitive radio networks, where a cellular service provider can lease a part of its resources to secondary users or virtual providers. In the second part, we have chosen delay-tolerant networks as a solution to reduce the pressure on the cell traffic, where mobile users come to use available resources effectively and with a cheaper cost. We have focused on optimal strategy for smartphones in hybrid wireless networks. In the last part, an alternative to delay-tolerant networks, specially in regions that are not covered by the cellular network, is to use Ad-hoc networks. Indeed, they can be used as an extension of the coverage area. We have developed a new analytical modeling of the IEEE 802.11e DCF/EDCF. We have investigated the intricate interactions among layers by building a general cross-layered framework to represent multi-hop ad hoc networks with asymmetric topology and traffic

No description available.

The scarcity of bandwidth in the radio spectrum has become more vital since the demand for wireless applications has increased. Most of the spectrum bands have been allocated although many studies have shown that these bands are significantly underutilized most of the time. The problem of unavailability of spectrum bands and the inefficiency in their utilization have been smartly addressed by the cognitive radio (CR) technology which is an opportunistic network that senses the environment, observes the network changes, and then uses knowledge gained from the prior interaction with the network to make intelligent decisions by dynamically adapting transmission characteristics. In this thesis, recent research and survey about the advances in theory and applications of cognitive radio technology has been reviewed. The thesis starts with the essential background on cognitive radio techniques and systems and discusses those characteristics of CR technology, such as standards, applications and challenges that all can help make software radio more personal. It then presents advanced level material by extensively reviewing the work done so far in the area of cognitive radio networks and more specifically in medium access control (MAC) protocol of CR. The list of references will be useful to both researchers and practitioners in this area. Also, it can be adopted as a graduate-level textbook for an advanced course on wireless communication networks. The development of new technologies such as Wi-Fi, cellular phones, Bluetooth, TV broadcasts and satellite has created immense demand for radio spectrum which is a limited natural resource ranging from 30KHz to 300GHz. For every wireless application, some portion of the radio spectrum needs to be purchased, and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) allocates the spectrum for some fee for such services. This static allocation of the radio spectrum has led to various problems such as saturation in some bands, scarcity, and lack of radio resources to new wireless applications. Most of the frequencies in the radio spectrum have been allocated although many studies have shown that the allocated bands are not being used efficiently. The CR technology is one of the effective solutions to the shortage of spectrum and the inefficiency of its utilization. In this thesis, a detailed investigation on issues related to the protocol design for cognitive radio networks with particular emphasis on the MAC layer is presented. A novel Dynamic and Decentralized and Hybrid MAC (DDH-MAC) protocol that lies between the CR MAC protocol families of globally available common control channel (GCCC) and local control channel (non-GCCC). First, a multi-access channel MAC protocol, which integrates the best features of both GCCC and non-GCCC, is proposed. Second, an enhancement to the protocol is proposed by enabling it to access more than one control channel at the same time. The cognitive users/secondary users (SUs) always have access to one control channel and they can identify and exploit the vacant channels by dynamically switching across the different control channels. Third, rapid and efficient exchange of CR control information has been proposed to reduce delays due to the opportunistic nature of CR. We have calculated the pre-transmission time for CR and investigate how this time can have a significant effect on nodes holding a delay sensitive data. Fourth, an analytical model, including a Markov chain model, has been proposed. This analytical model will rigorously analyse the performance of our proposed DDH-MAC protocol in terms of aggregate throughput, access delay, and spectrum opportunities in both the saturated and non-saturated networks. Fifth, we develop a simulation model for the DDH-MAC protocol using OPNET Modeler and investigate its performance for queuing delays, bit error rates, backoff slots and throughput. It could be observed from both the numerical and simulation results that when compared with existing CR MAC protocols our proposed MAC protocol can significantly improve the spectrum utilization efficiency of wireless networks. Finally, we optimize the performance of our proposed MAC protocol by incorporating multi-level security and making it energy efficient.

Radio spectrum has become a scarce and priced resource due to the rapid growth of wireless networks. However, recent surveys conducted by the FCC indicate that a large part of the allotted frequency spectrum lies unused. Cognitive radio systems, built on the software defined radios, allow the efficient usage of these unused frequency spectrum. Cognitive radio systems can be modeled as a multiple access channel in which certain users have the priority (primary users) while others (cognitive or secondary users) are allowed to access the channels without causing any interference to the primary users. However a secondary user’s transmissions not only encounter high levels of uncertainty and variability in the number of channels available to them, but they also suffer data losses if a primary user activity occurs. Under such rigid constraints, the reliable transmission of real time multimedia of a secondary user with an acceptable quality of service becomes challenging. Multimedia transmission in a cognitive system requires channel adaptive source and channel coding schemes. In order to address this problem, this thesis investigates and develops a novel joint source-channel coding (JSCC) approach. The proposed JSCC allows the dynamic generation of codes, which minimizes the end-to-end distortion. This JSCC is based on quantized frame expansions to introduce redundancy into transmitted data. An algorithm has been developed to determine the optimal trade-off between redundancy and quantization rate, under a constraint on channel capacity. The proposed approach does not require the communication of any overhead data between the transmitter and receiver. When compared to codes commonly used to deal with packet losses, simulation results indicate that the proposed JSCC can achieve lower distortion for secondary user’s transmissions in cognitive radio systems.

The focus of this thesis is on cooperative spectrum sensing and related security issues in multi-channel cognitive radio networks (MCCRNs). We first study the channel assignment for cooperative spectrum sensing in MCCRNs to maximize the number of available channels. In centralized implementation, a heuristic scheme is proposed along with a greedy scheme to reduce the reported information from the cognitive radios (CRs). In distributed scenario, a novel scheme with multi-round operation is designed following the coalitional game theory. Next, we focus on the physical layer security issues for cooperative spectrum sensing in MCCRNs, caused by Byzantine attacks. New counterattacks are proposed to combat attacks comprising coalition head and CRs as Byzantine attackers, which target to reduce the number of available channels for sensing in distributed MCCRNs. First, a new secure coalition head selection is proposed, by using statistical properties of the exchanged SNRs in the coalitions. Then, an iterative algorithm is proposed to block out attackers, if they continue attacking the system. The important problem of key management is considered next, and an energy-efficient identity-based and a certificate-based distributed key management schemes are proposed. First, a new elliptic curve cryptography (ECC)-based distributed private key generation scheme is proposed to combat the single point of failure problem along with novel distributed private key generator (DPKG) selection schemes to preserve security and energy-efficiency. Because of its importance in the proposed identity-based key management scheme, we further propose a low-complexity DPKG assignment, based on multi-objective programming, which can capture DPKG fairness in addition to energy-efficiency. Finally, a more powerful and intelligent distributed cooperative Byzantine attack on the proposed multi-channel cooperative spectrum sensing is proposed, where attackers collude by applying coalitional game theory to maximize the number of invaded channels in a distributed manner. As a remedy, a hierarchical identity-based key management scheme is proposed, in which CRs can only play on a certain number of requested channels and channel access for sensing is limited to the honest CRs selected in the coalitional game. Simulation results show that the proposed schemes can significantly improve cooperative spectrum sensing and secure the system against Byzantine attacks.

Several optimal detection frameworks for wideband/multichannel spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks are proposed. All frameworks search for multiple secondary transmission opportunities over a number of narrowband channels, enhancing the secondary network performance while respecting the primary network integrity and keeping the interference limited. Considering a periodic sensing scheme with either uniform or non-uniform channel sensing durations, the detection problems are formulated as joint optimization of the sensing duration(s) and individual detector parameters to maximize the aggregate achievable secondary throughput capacity given some bounds/limits on the overall interference imposed on the primary network. It is demonstrated that all the formulated optimization problems can be solved using convex optimization if certain practical constraints are applied. Simulation results attest that the proposed frameworks achieve superior performance compared to contemporary frameworks. To realize efficient implementation, an iterative low-complexity algorithm which solves one of the optimization problems with much lower complexity compared to other numerical methods is presented. It is established that the iteration-complexity and the complexity-per-iteration of the proposed algorithm increases linearly with the number of optimization variables (i.e. the number of narrowband channels). / Communication