Thesis ( M.Sc. ( Computer Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Dynamic spectrum access enabled by cognitive radio networks is envisioned to address the problems of the ever-increasing wireless technology. This innovative technology increases spectrum utility by allowing unlicensed devices to utilise the unused spectrum band of licenced devices opportunistically. The unlicensed devices referred to as secondary users (SUs) constantly sense the spectrum band to avoid interfering with the transmission of the licenced devices known as primary users (PUs).Due to some environmental challenges that can interfere with effective spectrum sensing, the SUs have to cooperate in sensing the spectrum band. However, cooperative spectrum sensing is susceptible to the spectrum sensing data falsification (SSDF) attack where selfish radios falsify the spectrum reports. Hence, there is a need to design a defence scheme that will defend the SSDF attack and guaranty correct final transmission decision. In this study, we proposed the integration of the reputation based system and the qout-of-m rule scheme to defend against the SSDF attack. The reputation-based system was used to determine the trustworthiness of the SUs. The q-out-of-m rule scheme where m sensing reports were selected from the ones with good reputation and q was the final decision, which was used to isolate the entire malicious nodes and make the correct final transmission decision. The proposed scheme was implemented in a Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Network (CRAHN) where the services of a data fusion centre (FC) were not required. The SUs conducted their own data fusion and made their own final transmission decision based on their sensing reports and the sensing reports of their neighbouring nodes. Matlab was used to implement and simulate the proposed scheme. We compared our proposed scheme with the multifusion based distributed spectrum sensing and density based system schemes. Metrics used were the success probability, missed detection probability and false alarm probability. The proposed scheme performed better compared to the other schemes in all the metrics. / CSIR, NRF and, University of Limpopo research office

'It is not a lack of spectrum. It is an issue of efficient use of the available spectrum"--conclusions of the FCC Spectrum Policy Task Force. There is growing interest towards providing broadband communication with high bit rates and throughput, especially in the ISM band, as it was an ignition of innovation triggered by the FCC to provide, to some extent, a regulation-free band that anyone can use. But with such freedom comes the risk of interference and more responsibility to avoid causing it. Therefore, the need for accurate interference detection and identification, along with good blind detection capabilities are inevitable. Since cognitive radio is being adopted widely as more researchers consider it the ultimate solution for efficient spectrum sharing [1], it is reasonable to study the cognitive radio in the ISM band [2]. Many indications show that the ISM band will have less regulation in the future, and some even predict that the ISM may be completely regulation free [3]. In the dawn of cognitive radio, more knowledge about possible interfering signals should play a major role in determining optimal transmitter configurations. Since signal identification and interference will be the core concerns [4], [5], we will describe a novel approach for a cognitive radio spectrum sensing engine, which will be essential to design more efficient ISM band transceivers. In this thesis we propose a novel spectrum awareness engine to be integrated in the cognitive radios. Furthermore, the proposed engine is specialized for the ISM band, assuming that it can be one of the most challenging bands due to its free-to-use approach. It is shown that characterization of the interfering signals will help with overcoming their effects. This knowledge is invaluable to help choose the best configuration for the transceivers and will help to support the efforts of the coexistence attempts between wireless devices in such bands.

Las redes inal´ambricas actuales exhiben caracter´ısticas heterog´eneas de acceso m´ultiple mediante el despliegue, la coexistencia y la cooperaci´on de varias Tecnolog ´ıas de Acceso Radio (RAT2). En este escenario, la prestaci´on de servicios multimedia garantizando una cierta calidad de servicio (QoS3) es obligatoria. El objetivo global de las redes heterog´eneas de acceso inal´ambrico consiste en sustentar la realizaci´on del concepto ABC (del ingl´es Always Best Connected), en el que un usuario est´a siempre conectado a la RAT que mejor satisface sus necesidades de servicio en cualquier momento, en cualquier lugar, de cualquier modo. En este sentido, las estrat´egias de gesti´on de recursos radio comunes [del ingl´es, Common Radio Resource Management (CRRM)] se dise˜nan para proporcionar una utilizaci´on eficiente de los recursos radio y de espectro radioel´ectrico dentro de la red heterog´enea, ofreciendo un mejor rendimiento en comparaci´on con la realizaci´on independiente de RRM en cada RAT. Adem´as, los recursos de espectro asignados a cada una de las RATs deben ser utilizado de manera eficiente, ya que se trata de un recurso escaso y costoso. En este sentido, conceptos y metodolog´ıas de radio cognitiva (del ingl´es Cognitive Radio o CR) se han aplicado a la gesti´on del espectro, permitiendo una compartici´on dinamico-oportunista del mismo. En estos casos, el espectro sujeto a licencia se abre hacia el acceso de usuarios sin licencia siempre que no perjudiquen y que el funcionamiento libre de interferencias est´e garantizado. Esta tesis analiza estrategias de gesti´on de recursos radio y de espectro para ofrecer un uso mayor y eficiente de los escasos recursos radio y de espectro con el objetivo final de aumentar al m´aximo la capacidad de usuario, garantizando los requerimientos de QoS. En concreto, estas tesis se centra primero en como seleccionar una RAT al inicio de una llamada/sesi´on (en adelante, selecci´on inicial de RAT) en una red de acceso heterog´enea. Un modelo de Markov ha sido desarrollado para definir la asignaci´on de m´ultiples servicios (multi-servicio) en m´ultiples RATs (multi-acceso). En este marco, varias pol´ıticas de selecci´on de RAT son propuestas y evaluadas, gen´ericamente clasific´andose en pol´ıticas basadas en servicio (SB4) y basadas en balanceo de carga (LB5). Adem´as, el rendimiento de las pol´ıticas de selecci´on de RATs en escenarios de acceso limitado debido a la deficiente cobertura radio, la falta de disponibilidad de terminales multi-modo y la incompatibilidad entre RAT y servicios tambi´en es evaluada. Principios espec´ıficos para la asignaci´on de servicios a RATs ser´an provistos en los escenarios antes mencionados con el objetivo general de aumentar la capacidad de usuarios, garantizando los requisitos m´ınimos de calidad de servicio. Finalmente, la congesti´on en el acceso radio tambi´en se trata en este escenario multi-acceso/multi-servicio y el impacto de la selecci´on de RAT evaluado. Los principios para la asignaci´on inicial de RAT con tal de evitar la congesti´on radio ser´an tambi´en proporcionados. En segundo lugar, esta tesis investiga sobre la forma de maximizar el uso eficiente del espectro sujeto a licencia (o licenciado) por medio del acceso din´amicooportunista de espectro a usuarios sin licencia. En este sentido, se concibe un modelo de Markov para captar el problema del uso compartido de espectro entre usuarios con y sin licencia. Un modelo basado en sensado de espectro se propone con el fin de detectar porciones de espectro no utilizados (en ingl´es white spaces) que pueden ser usados por los usuarios sin licencia mientras este siga libre. En este marco, los beneficios obtenidos de la compartici´on del espectro son investigados y las ventajas que implican evaluadas. En concreto, se eval´ua el rendimiento obtenido al ajustar el punto de funcionamiento (en ingl´es operating point ) del mecanismo de sensado, el cual determina los errores de no-detecci´on y falsa-alarma. Por otra parte, sistemas de canalizaci´on de espectro fijos versus adaptativos ser´an propuestos y analizados bajo dos disciplinas de servicio diferentes, cuya duraci´on (o tiempo de permanencia en el sistema) esta basada en tiempo y en contenido respectivamente. / Current wireless networks exhibit heterogeneous multi-access features by means of the coexisting and cooperative deployment of several Radio Access Technologies (RATs). In this scenario, the provision of multimedia services with ensured Quality of Service (QoS) is mandatory. The overall goal of heterogeneous wireless access networks is to enable the realization of the Always Best Connected concept in which a user is seamlessly connected to the RAT best suiting its service requirements anytime, anywhere, anyhow. In this sense, Common Radio Resource Management (CRRM) strategies are devoted to provide an efficient utilization of radio resources within the heterogeneous network offering improved performances as opposed to performing stand-alone RRM in each RAT. In addition, allocated spectrum resources to each RAT must be efficiently utilized since it is a scarce and expensive resource. In this respect, cognitive radio concepts and methodologies have been applied to spectrum management by enabling dynamic/opportunistic spectrum sharing. In these scenarios, licensed spectrum is opened towards unlicensed access provided a non-harmful operation is guaranteed. This dissertation discusses both radio resource and spectrum management strategies to provide an utmost and efficient use of scarce radio/spectrum resources with the overall goal of maximizing user capacity while guaranteeing QoS constraints.Specifically, the thesis is first focused on how to select an appropriate RAT upon call/session initiation (henceforth, initial RAT selection) in a heterogeneous access network. A Markovian framework is developed to such extent supporting the allocation of multiple service-type users (multi-service) on multiple RATs (multi-access). Under this framework, several RAT selection policies are proposed and evaluated, broadly categorized into service-based (SB) and load-balancing (LB). In addition, the performance of RAT selection policies in access-limited scenarios due to poor radio coverage, non multi-mode terminal availability and RAT-service incompatibility is also evaluated. Specific guiding principles for the allocation of services on several RATs are provided in the abovementioned scenarios with the overall goal of increasing user capacity while guaranteeing minimum QoS requirements. Finally, radio access congestion is also addressed in this multi-access/multi-service scenario and the impact RAT selection assessed. Suitable allocation principles avoiding congestion are also provided.Secondly, this dissertation investigates on how to efficiently maximize the use of licensed spectrum by means of dynamic/opportunistic unlicensed spectrum access. Hereof, a Markovian framework is also devised to capture the problem of licensed spectrum sharing towards unlicensed users. A sensing-based spectrum awareness model is proposed in order to detect unused spectrum (so-called white spaces) which may be accessed by unlicensed users while remaining unused. Under this framework, the benefits of spectrum sharing are investigated and the involved gains assessed. Specifically, the sensing-throughput tradeoff and the adjustment of the sensing mechanism’s operating point, which tradeoffs missed-detection and false-alarm errors, is evaluated. Moreover, fixed vs. adaptive spectrum channelization schemes are proposed and analyzed under two different service disciplines considering time-based and volume-based content delivery.

Cognitive radio (CR) technology has recently been introduced to opportunistically exploit the spectrum. We present a robust and cost-effective design to ensure the improvement of spectrum efficiency with CR. We first propose probability-based spectrum sensing by utilizing the statistical characteristics of licensed channel occupancy, which achieves nearly optimal performance with relatively low complexity. Based on the statistical model, we then propose periodic spectrum sensing scheduling to determine the optimal inter-sensing duration and vary the transmit power at each data sample to enhance throughput and reduce interference. We further develop a probability-based scheme for combination of local sensing information collected from cooperative CR users, which enables combination of both synchronous and asynchronous sensing information. To satisfy the stringent bandwidth constraint for reporting, we also propose to simultaneously send local sensing data to a combining node through the same narrowband channel. With proper preprocessing at individual users, such a design maintains reasonable detection performance while the bandwidth required for reporting does not change with the number of cooperative users. To better utilize the spectrum and avoid possible interference, we propose spectrum shaping schemes based on spectral precoding, which enable efficient spectrum sharing between CR and licensed users and exhibit the advantages of both simplicity and flexibility. We also propose a novel resource allocation approach based on the probabilities of licensed channel availability obtained from spectrum sensing. Different from conventional approaches, the probabilistic approach exploits the flexibility of CR to ensure efficient spectrum usage and protect licensed users from unacceptable interference.

Wireless communications systems underwent an evolution as the voice oriented applications evolved to data and multimedia based services. Furthermore, current wireless technologies, regulations and the un- derstanding of the technology are insufficient for the requirements of future wireless systems. Along with the rapid rise at the number of users, increasing demand for more communications capacity to deploy multimedia applications entail effective utilization of communications resources. Therefore, there is a need for effective spectrum allocation, adaptive and complex modulation, error recovery, channel estimation, diversity and code design techniques to allow high data rates while maintaining desired quality of service, and reconfigurable and flexible air interface technologies for better interference and fading management. However, traditional communications system design is based on allocating fixed amounts of resources to the user and does not consider adaptive spectrum utilization. Technologies which will lead to adaptive, intelligent, and aware wireless communications systems are expected to come up with consistent methodologies to provide solutions for the capacity, interference, and reliability problems of the wireless networks. Spectrum sensing feature of cognitive radio systems are a step forward to better recognize the problems and to achieve efficient spectrum allocation. On the other hand, even though spectrum sensing can constitute a solid base to achieve the reconfigurability and awareness goals of next generation networks, a new perspective is required to benefit from the whole dimensions of the available electro hyperspace. Therefore, spectrum sensing should evolve to a more general and comprehensive awareness providing a mechanism, not only as a part of CR systems which provide channel occupancy information but also as a communication environment awareness component of dynamic spectrum access paradigm which can adapt sensing parameters autonomously to ensure robust identification and parameter estimation for the signals over the monitored spectrum. Such an approach will lead to recognition of communications opportunities in different dimensions of spectrum hyperspace, and provide necessary information about the air interfaces, access techniques and waveforms that are deployed over the monitored spectrum to accomplish adaptive resource management and spectrum access. We define multidimensional signal analysis as a methodology, which not only provides the information that the spectrum hyperspace dimension in interest is occupied or not, but also reveals the underlaying information regarding to the parameters, such as employed channel access methods, duplexing techniques and other parameters related to the air interfaces of the signals accessing to the monitored channels and more. To achieve multidimensional signal analysis, a comprehensive sensing, classification, and a detection approach is required at the initial stage. In this thesis, we propose the multidimensional signal analysis procedures under signal identification algorithms in time, frequency. Moreover, an angle of arrival estimation system for wireless signals, and a spectrum usage modeling and prediction method are proposed as multidimensional signal analysis functionalities.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία έχει ως αντικείμενο την μελέτη και ανάπτυξη μίας τεχνικής ανίχνευσης φάσματος (spectrum sensing technique), η οποία να μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί σε περιβάλλον Δυναμικής Εκχώρησης Φάσματος από Γνωστικά Συστήματα Ραδιοεπικοινωνιών (Cognitive Radio Systems). Οι παραδοσιακές στατικές στρατηγικές καταμερισμού του φάσματος έχουν δημιουργήσει προβλήματα έλλειψης διαθέσιμου φάσματος. Ταυτόχρονα, πρόσφατες μετρήσεις δείχνουν ότι μεγάλα τμήματα του φάσματος που έχουν εκχωρηθεί με άδεια σε συγκεκριμένα συστήματα υποχρησιμοποιούνται. Είναι επομένως αναγκαίο να υιοθετηθούν νέες πολιτικές διαχείρισης του φάσματος οι οποίες θα επιτρέπουν σε μη αδειοδοτημένα δίκτυα να κάνουν χρήση τμημάτων του αδειοδοτημένου φάσματος. Τα Γνωστικά Συστήματα Ραδιοεπικοινωνιών είναι ευφυή συστήματα τα οποία έχουν γνώση του περιβάλλοντός τους και μπορούν να προσαρμόζουν κατάλληλα τις παραμέτρους λειτουργίας τους σε αυτό. Τα συστήματα αυτά μπορούν να ανιχνεύουν περιοδικά το φάσμα, να εντοπίζουν τις ζώνες συχνοτήτων οι οποίες δε χρησιμοποιούνται από τους αδειοδοτημένους χρήστες τους και να τις αξιοποιούν. Όπως γίνεται εύκολα αντιληπτό από τα παραπάνω η ανίχνευση φάσματος αποτελεί ένα ιδιαιτέρως κρίσιμο θέμα για τα Γνωστικά Συστήματα Ραδιοεπικοινωνιών. Στο στάδιο αυτό, το σύστημα ανιχνεύει και παρακολουθεί στο περιβάλλον μέσα στο οποίο ενεργεί, το κατά πόσο το φάσμα είναι ελεύθερο ανά πάσα χρονική στιγμή και αξιοποιεί αυτά τα φασματικά κενά. Ουσιαστικά η ανίχνευση φάσματος εφαρμόζεται για να δώσει στον cognitive χρήστη μία όσο το δυνατόν πιστότερη εικόνα του περιβάλλοντος μέσα στο οποίο βρίσκεται. Η δική μας μελέτη επικεντρώθηκε στις τεχνικές ανίχνευσης φάσματος (spectrum sensing) και συγκεκριμένα αναπτύσσουμε μία μέθοδο ανίχνευσης φασματικών κενών βασιζόμενη στη χρήση ενός προβλεπτή (predictor) και στη χρησιμοποίηση του σφάλματος πρόβλεψης του σήματος που προκύπτει από αυτόν ως μετρική για τη λήψη απόφασης σχετικά με την ύπαρξη ή την απουσία σήματος ακόμα και σε θορυβώδη περιβάλλοντα (πολύ χαμηλό SNR). H τεχνική ανίχνευσης φάσματος που προτείνουμε μοντελοποιήθηκε στο περιβάλλον μοντελοποίησης MATLAB. Στη συνέχεια, διενεργήθηκαν εκτενείς προσομοιώσεις για ποικίλες τιμές των διαφόρων παραμέτρων του συστήματος αλλά και για διαφορετικά συστήματα, ούτως ώστε να αξιολογηθεί η επίδοση της τεχνικής σε διάφορες συνθήκες. / 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 power 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.

There has been a recent explosive growth in mobile data consumption. This, in turn, imposes many challenges for mobile services providers and regulators in many aspects. One of these primary challenges is maintaining the radio spectrum to handle the current and upcoming expansion in mobile data traffic. In this regard, a radio spectrum regulatory framework based on secondary spectrum access is proposed as one of the solutions for the next generation wireless networks. In secondary spectrum access framework, secondary (unlicensed) systems coexist with primary (licensed) systems and access the spectrum on an opportunistic base. In this thesis, aspects related to finding the free of use spectrum portions - called spectrum opportunities - are treated. One way to find these opportunities is spectrum sensing which is considered as an enabler of opportunistic spectrum access. In particular, this thesis investigates some topics in blind spectrum sensing where no priori knowledge about the possible co-existing systems is available. As a standalone contribution in blind spectrum sensing arena, a new blind sensing technique is developed in this thesis. The technique is based on discriminant analysis statistical framework and called spectrum discriminator (SD). A comparative study between the SD and some existing blind sensing techniques was carried out and showed a reliable performance of the SD. The thesis also contributes by exploring sensing parameters optimization for two existing techniques, namely, energy detector (ED) and maximum-minimum eigenvalue detector (MME). For ED, the sensing time and periodic sensing interval are optimized to achieve as high detection accuracy as possible. Moreover, a study of sensing parameters optimization in a real-life coexisting scenario, that is, LTE cognitive femto-cells, is carried out with an objective of maximizing cognitive femto-cells throughput. In association with this work, an empirical statistical model for LTE channel occupancy is accomplished. The empirical model fits the channels' active and idle periods distributions to a linear combination of multiple exponential distributions. For the MME, a novel solution for the filtering problem is introduced. This solution is based on frequency domain rectangular filtering. Furthermore, an optimization of the observation bandwidth for MME with respect to the signal bandwidth is analytically performed and verified by simulations. After optimizing the parameters for both ED and MME, a two-stage fully-blind self-adapted sensing algorithm composed of ED and MME is introduced. The combined detector is found to outperform both detectors individually in terms of detection accuracy with an average complexity lies in between the complexities of the two detectors. The combined detector is tested with measured TV and wireless microphone signals. The performance evaluation in the different parts of the thesis is done through measurements and/or simulations. Active measurements were performed for sensing performance evaluation. Passive measurements on the other hand were used for LTE downlink channels occupancy modeling and to capture TV and wireless microphone signals. / <p>QC 20150209</p>

Με τη ραγδαία ανάπτυξη των ασύρματων επικοινωνιών και την μαζική χρήση τους, εμφανίστηκε το πρόβλημα της διάθεσης των ραδιοσυχνοτήτων του φάσματος, του κύριου αλλά πεπερασμένου πόρου για τις ασύρματες επικοινωνίες. Η κύρια πολιτική πρόσβασης στο φάσμα ραδιοσυχνοτήτων, είναι η εξουσιοδότηση επιλεγμένων χρηστών να μεταδίδουν σε συγκεκριμένο εύρος συχνοτήτων. Παρά την κάλυψη όλων των ραδιοσυχνοτήτων από εξουσιοδοτημένους χρήστες, την αυξημένη ζήτηση και το υψηλό κόστος πρόσβασης, μετά από έρευνες αποδεδείχθηκε ότι μόνο το 70% του φάσματος χρησιμοποιείται αποδοτικά μέχρι σήμερα. Η τεχνολογία του Cognitive Radio αναπτύχθηκε με την προοπτική να επιτύχει αποτελεσματικότερη χρήση του φάσματος, δίνοντας τη δυνατότητα σε μη εξουσιοδοτημένους χρήστες να έχουν πρόσβαση σε συχνότητες που είναι καθόλου ή μερικώς κατειλημμένες από τους εξουσιοδοτημένους χρήστες, στο χώρο και στο χρόνο. Η τεχνολογία του Cognitive Radio εφαρμόζει δυο βήματα. Πρώτα αντιλαμβάνεται την κατάσταση του φάσματος στο χώρο σε συγκεκριμένες χρονικές στιγμές και έπειτα διαθέτει δυναμικά τις ελεύθερες συχνότητες που εντόπισε στους μη εξουσιοδοτημένους χρήστες, η διαδικασίες ονομάζονται ανίχνευση και κατανομή φάσματος αντίστοιχα. Ο μόνος περιορισμός είναι, το εκπεμπόμενο σήμα των μη εξουσιοδοτημένων χρηστών να μην παρεμβαίνει (με τη μορφή θορύβου) στο σήμα των εξουσιοδοτημένων χρηστών. Σε αυτήν την εργασία θα υλοποιηθεί μια μέθοδος της διαδικασίας ανίχνευσης φάσματος και οι τεχνικές που την εφαρμόζουν. Ο κύριος στόχος της ανίχνευσης φάσματος είναι ο εντοπισμός των εξουσιοδοτημένων χρηστών όταν αυτοί εκπέμπουν στις καθορισμένες για τον καθένα συχνότητες. Αυτό επιτυγχάνεται όταν φτάνει το σήμα των εξουσιοδοτημένων χρηστών στην κεραία του μη εξουσιοδοτημένου χρήστη. To βασικό εμπόδιο που παρουσιάζεται για τον εντοπισμό αυτών είναι η εξασθένηση του σήματος του εξουσιοδοτημένου χρήστη εξαιτίας των κακών συνθηκών καναλιού που προκύπτουν από τα φαινόμενα multipath, distance dependent path loss και shadowing. Μελέτες έδειξαν ότι η συνεργασία των μη εξουσιοδοτημένων χρηστών σε ένα δίκτυο μπορεί να ακυρώσει την επίδραση τέτοιων φαινόμενων στη διαδικασία εντοπισμού. Έτσι έχουν αναπτυχθεί ποικίλες τεχνικές ανίχνευσης φάσματος βασισμένες στη συνεργασία των μη εξουσιοδοτημένων χρηστών. Η παρούσα εργασία υλοποιεί μια μέθοδο συνεργαζόμενης ανίχνευσης φάσματος που βασίζεται στην ενέργεια του σήματος. Λόγω του κινδύνου αλλοίωσης αποτελεσμάτων από την παρουσία κακόβουλων χρηστών σε συστήματα συνεργασίας, η τεχνική συνεργασίας που επιλέχθηκε εστιάζει στην προστασία του δικτύου από κακόβουλους χρήστες. Μια τέτοια τεχνική θα συγκέντρωνε όλη την απαιτούμενη επεξεργαστική ισχύ σε έναν μη εξουσιοδοτημένο χρήστη που θα αποτελούσε το κέντρο παραγωγής των αποφάσεων-το fusion center. Στην εργασία αυτή η απαιτούμενη επεξεργαστική ισχύς κατανέμεται σε όλους τους μη εξουσιοδοτημένους χρήστες. Αυτό επιτυγχάνεται εισάγοντας ένα επιπλέον βήμα στη διαδικασία. Οι μη εξουσιοδοτημένοι χρήστες εκτελούν αρχικά μια νέα τεχνική ανίχνευσης φάσματος μεμονωμένα, ώστε η τελική απόφαση του fusion center να αφορά αυτές τις συχνότητες για τις οποίες δεν υπήρξε ταύτιση από την πλειοψηφία τους. Η νέα τεχνική που θα εκτελείται μεμονωμένα από τους μη εξουσιοδοτημένους χρήστες είναι μια τεχνική ανίχνευσης φάσματος που δεν διακρίνεται για τα καλά της αποτελέσματα και η μόνη εγγύηση που μπορεί να προσφέρει είναι ο ακριβής εντοπισμός των συχνοτήτων στις οποίες οι εξουσιοδοτημένοι χρήστες δεν μεταδίδουν, θυσιάζοντας πιθανώς κατειλημμένες συχνότητες. Η στοιχειώδης λειτουργία αυτής της τεχνικής σε συνδυασμό με τις ανύπαρκτες απαιτήσεις σε δεδομένα εκ των προτέρων γνωστά, την χαρακτηρίζει πλήρως κατάλληλη για πρώτο βήμα στη μέθοδο που αναπτύχθηκε. / Due to rapid growth of wireless communications and the massive use of them, the problem of sharing the radio spectrum, the main though finite source of wireless communication, made its appearance. The main radio spectrum access policy is to predefine users -named primary- for transmitting to particular radio frequencies. Nevertheless the authorization of the whole the radio spectrum, given the strong competition and the high financial cost for access, doesn’t exploit completely the source. On the contrary, researches have shown that only the 70 % of the radio spectrum is effectively used. The Cognitive Radio technology was developed with the prospect to achieve a more effective use of spectrum, by giving the chance of transmission to non authorization users -secondary- in frequencies which are partially or completely unoccupied with primary users’ signals, from the perspectives of time and space. Cognitive Radio technology applies two processes. At first it senses the spectrum current flow in particular space and time periods, then it dynamically sharing those available frequencies which it sensed, to secondary users. These processes named as Spectrum Sensing and Spectrum Access respectively. The only restriction define to that, transmitted signal of secondary users is forbidden from interfering with primary user signal. In this study, a method of Spectrum Sensing process and individual techniques will be developed. The main objective of Spectrum Sensing process is to determine primary users when they transmit to predefined frequencies. This can be accomplished provided that the signal of primary user can be received from secondary user. Signal deterioration due to channel conditions could be a reason for secondary users in order to not receive primary user signal. Some of these conditions are multipath, distance dependent path loss και shadowing phenomenon. Researches have shown that the secondary users’ cooperation can avoid the effect of those conditions in spectrum sensing process. Thus a variety of spectrum sensing techniques have been developed, which are based on secondary users’ cooperation. In the present study is performed an energy based cooperative spectrum sensing method. Due to the possibility of cooperating with malicious users in the process, the performed cooperation technique focuses on protection from malicious users. Note that such a technique will concentrate the whole computing power on a single secondary user, which one make the final decision and named fusion center. The method of this study distributes the computing power among all the secondary users. That happens by adding one more step in the process. Secondary users firstly execute a spectrum sensing technique individually, in order the process of fusion center to affect only those frequencies, which secondary individual decisions achieved a degree of unanimity for. The individual technique executed by secondary users is not typical of good results in sensing the primary users who transmit, however it gives a guarantee of small values in false alarm possibility. The fundamental operation of this technique in coexistence with very few a-priory requirements made it the appropriate technique for the first step of our method.

The idea that the radio spectrum is growing ever more scarce has become commonplace, and is being reinforced by the recent bidding wars among telecom operators. New wireless applications tend to be deployed in the relatively narrow unlicensed frequency bands, worsening the problem of interference for all users.  However, not all frequency bands are in use in every location all the time, creating temporal and spatial gaps (also known as white spaces) that cognitive radio systems aim to take advantage of. In order to achieve that, such systems need to be able to constantly scan large chunks of the radio spectrum to keep track of which frequency bands are locally available any given moment, thus allowing users to switch to one of these unoccupied frequency bands once the current band becomes unusable (or less useful). This requirement of wideband sensing capabilities often translates into the need to install specialized radio components, raising the costs of such systems, and is often at odds with the focus on monitoring the current band as is done by traditional wireless devices. The goal of this master’s thesis project is to simplify cognitive radio systems by shifting the wideband sensing functionality to a specialized and inexpensive embedded platforms that will act as a white space sensor, thus freeing cognitive radio users from this task and making it easier to integrate dynamic spectrum management techniques into existing systems. To do that a wireless sensor gateway platform developed by a previous master’s thesis has been repurposed as a prototype white space detector and tested against several wireless transmitters.  The aim is to develop a standalone platform that can be deployed all around an area to collect data that can be used to create a geographical map of the use of the spectrum. Such a system should require as little maintenance as possible, thus auto-update and self-configuring features have been implemented in the detector, as well as a simple scanning protocol that allows for remote configuration of the wideband sensing parameters. Furthermore, a basic server has been developed to aggregate and display the data provided by the different sensors. / Tanken att radiospektrum blir allt knappare har blivit vardagsmat, och förstärks av de senaste budgivning krig mellan teleoperatörer. Nya trådlösa applikationer tenderar att sättas i de relativt smala olicensierade frekvensband, förvärrade problemet med störningar för alla användare. Men inte alla frekvensband som används i varje plats hela tiden, skapar tidsmässiga och rumsliga luckor (även känd som vita fläckar) som kognitiva radiosystem syftar till att dra nytta av.  För att uppnå detta, sådana system måste hela tiden kunna scanna stora delar av radiospektrum för att hålla reda på vilka frekvensband är lokalt tillgängliga varje givet ögonblick, vilket gör omkopplaren när den nuvarande bandet blir obrukbar.  Det här kravet på bredbands avkänning kapaciteter översätter ofta in behovet av att installera specialiserade radiokomponenter, höja kostnaderna för sådana system, och är ofta i strid med fokus på övervakning av strömmen band med traditionella trådlösa enheter. Målet med detta examensarbete är att förenkla kognitiva radiosystem med wideband avkänning funktionalitet till en specialiserad och billig inbäddad plattform som kommer att fungera som ett vitt utrymme sensor, vilket frigör kognitiva radio användare från denna uppgift och gör det enklare att integrera dynamiskt spektrum förvaltning tekniker i befintliga system. För att göra det en trådlös sensor gateway plattform som utvecklats av ett tidigare examensarbete har apterat som en prototyp blanktecken detektor och testas mot flera trådlösa sändare. Målet är att utveckla en fristående plattform som kan sättas runt för att skapa en geografisk karta av användningen av spektrum och kräva så lite underhåll som möjligt, har automatisk uppdatering och självkonfigurerande funktioner implementerats i detektorn, samt som en enkel scanning protokoll som möjliggör fjärrkonfiguration av den bredbandiga avkänningsparametrarna. Dessutom har en grundläggande server utvecklats för att aggregera och visa uppgifterna från de olika sensorerna.

In 2015, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enabled shared commercial use of the 3.550-3.700 GHz band. A framework was developed to enable this spectrum-sharing capa- bility which included an automated frequency coordinator called Spectrum Access System (SAS). This work extends the open source SAS based on the aforementioned FCC SAS framework developed by researchers at Virginia Tech Wireless group, with real-time envi- ronment sensing capability along with intelligent incumbent detection using Software-defined Radios (SDRs) and a real-time graphical user interface. This extended version is called the OpenSAS. Furthermore, the SAS client and OpenSAS are extended to be compliant with the Wireless Innovation Forum (WINNF) specifications by testing the SAS-CBRS Base Station Device (CBSD) interface with the Google SAS Test Environment. The Environment Sensing Capability (ESC) functionality is evaluated and tested in our xG Testbed to verify its ability to detect the presence of users in the CBRS band. An ML-based feedforward neural net- work model is employed and trained using simulated radar waveforms as incumbent signals and captured 5G New Radio (NR) signals as a non-incumbent signal to predict whether the detected user is a radar incumbent or an unknown user. If the presence of incumbent radar is detected with an 85% or above certainty, incumbent protection is activated, terminating CBSD grants causing damaging interference to the detected incumbent. A 5G NR signal is used as a non-incumbent user and added to the training dataset to better the ability of the model to reject non-incumbent signals. The model achieves a maximum validation accuracy of 95.83% for signals in the 40-50 dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) range. It achieves an 85.35% accuracy for Over the air (OTA) real-time tests. The non-incumbent 5G NR signal rejection accuracy is 91.30% for a calculated SNR range of 10-20 dB. In conclusion, this work advances state of the art in spectrum sharing systems by presenting an enhanced open source SAS and evaluating the newly added functionalities. / Master of Science / In 2015, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enabled shared commercial use of the 3.550-3.700 GHz band. A framework was developed to enable this spectrum-sharing capability which included an automated frequency coordinator called Spectrum Access System (SAS). The task of the SAS is to make sure no two users use the same spectrum in the same location causing damaging interference to each other. The SAS is also responsible for prioritizing the higher tier users and protecting them from interference from lower tier users. This work extends the open source SAS based on the aforementioned FCC SAS framework developed by researchers at Virginia Tech Wireless group, with real-time environment sensing capability along with intelligent incumbent detection using Software-defined Radios (SDRs) and a real-time graphical user interface. This extended version is called the OpenSAS. Furthermore, the SAS client and OpenSAS are extended to be compliant with the Wireless Innovation Forum (WINNF) specifications by testing the SAS-CBRS Base Station Device (CBSD) interface with the Google SAS Test Environment. The Environment Sensing Capability (ESC) functionality is evaluated and tested in our xG Testbed to verify its ability to detect the presence of users in the CBRS band. The ESC is used to detect incumbent users (the highest tier) that do not inform the SAS about their use of the spectrum. An ML-based feedforward neural net- work model is employed and trained using simulated radar waveforms as incumbent signals and captured 5G New Radio (NR) signals as a non-incumbent signal to predict whether the detected user is a radar incumbent or an unknown user. If the presence of incumbent radar is detected with an 85% or above certainty, incumbent protection is activated, terminating CBSD grants causing damaging interference to the detected incumbent. A 5G NR signal is used as a non-incumbent user and added to the training dataset to better the ability of the model to reject non-incumbent signals. The model achieves a maximum validation accuracy of 95.83% for signals in the 40-50 dB Signal to-Noise Ratio (SNR) range. It achieves an 85.35% accuracy for Over the air (OTA) real-time tests. The non-incumbent 5G NR signal rejection accuracy is 91.30% for a calculated SNR range of 10-20 dB. In conclusion, this work advances state of the art in spectrum sharing systems by presenting an enhanced open source SAS and evaluating the newly added functionalities.