On co-channel and adjacent channel interference mitigation in cognitive radio networks

Cognitive radio (CR) is an emerging wireless communications paradigm of sharing spectrum among licensed (or, primary) and unlicensed (or, CR) users. In CR networks, interference mitigation is crucial not only for primary user protection, but also for the quality of service of CR user themselves. In this paper, we consider the problem of interference mitigation via channel assignment and power allocation for CR users. A cross-layer optimization framework for minimizing both co-channel and adjacent channel interference is developed; the latter has been shown to have considerable impact in practical systems. Cooperative spectrum sensing, opportunistic spectrum access, channel assignment, and power allocation are considered in the problem formulation. We propose a reformulation–linearization technique (RLT) based centralized algorithm, as well as a distributed greedy algorithm that uses local information for near-optimal solutions. Both algorithms are evaluated with simulations and are shown quite effective for mitigating both types of interference and achieving high CR network capacity.