Channel Availability Analysis of Spectrum Handoff in Cognitive Radio Networks

In this letter, steady-state analyses of spectrum handoff delay and channel availability are presented when spectrum handoff is used in a cognitive radio network. The effects of spectrum sensing time, data transmission time, and state transition rates of primary user signals are studied. Numerical results show that executing spectrum handoff results in higher channel availability than not executing spectrum handoff. However, this benefit of spectrum handoff decreases as the data transmission time or the state transition rates of primary user signals increase.