Distributed control channel selection algorithm for multi-hop cognitive radio networks

Due to the dynamic characteristics of the available spectrum for secondary users inherent in cognitive radio network, to avoid interference among secondary users, available radio resources should be allocated coordinately among them, thus control channel is needed. In multi-hop cognitive radio networks, a control channel common to all secondary users is not available, and control channel has to be selected in a distributed fashion. The control channel selection problem in multi-hop cognitive radio network is investigated in this paper. A distributed algorithm is proposed with the goal to minimize the number of control channel in the whole network. The control channel selection scheme for each node is obtained. Simulation results show that with the increase of total available channels, the required number of control channel decreases.