Kitsune: A management system for cognitive radio networks based on spectrum sensing

Software defined radio enables the improvement of the radio-frequency spectrum utilization through the design of cognitive radio devices. The implementation of these devices must be based on spectrum sensing function searching for vacant channels and, opportunistically, transmit over these channels in a cognitive radio network. Therefore, the configuration, monitoring and visualization of the spectrum sensing function are fundamentals to the continuous learning process of the network administrator. In this paper we propose Kitsune, a management system based on a hierarchical model allowing to manage summarized information about the spectrum sensing function in a cognitive radio networks. Moreover, a Kitsune prototype was developed and evaluated through a real IEEE 802.22 scenario using TV channels to Internet access. Results shown that Kitsune allows network administrator to achieve a higher knowledge about behavior of the users and improve the average throughput for each channel.