Misbehavior Scenarios in Cognitive Radio Networks

Recent advances in the fields of Cognitive Radio and the proliferation of open spectrum access promise that spectrum-agile wireless communication will be widespread in the near future, and will bring significant flexibility and potential utility improvements for end users. With spectrum efficiency being a key objective, most relevant research focuses on smart coexistence mechanisms. However, wireless nodes may behave selfishly and should be considered as rational autonomous entities. Selfishness, pure malice or even faulty equipment can lead to behavior that does not conform to sharing protocols and etiquette. Thus, there is a need to secure spectrum sharing mechanisms against attacks in the various phases of the sharing process. Identifying these attacks and possible countermeasures is the focus of this work.