Detection of Small-Scale Primary Users in Cognitive Radio Networks

In cognitive radio networks (CRNs), detecting small-scale primary devices, such as wireless microphones, is a challenging, but very important, problem that has not yet been addressed well. Recently, cooperative sensing and sensing scheduling have been advocated as an effective MAC (medium access control) layer approach to detecting large-scale primary signals. However, it is unclear whether and how they can improve the detection of a small-scale primary signal because of (i) its small signal footprint due to the use of weak transmit-power, and (ii) the unpredictability of its spatial and temporal spectrum-usage patterns. Based on extensive analysis and simulation, we identify the data-fusion range as a key factor that enables effective cooperative sensing for detection of small-scale primary signals. In particular, we derive a closed-form expression for the optimal data-fusion range that minimizes the average detection delay. We also observe that the sensing performance is sensitive to the accuracy in estimating the primary´s location and transmit-power. Based on these observations, we propose an efficient sensing framework that jointly performs Detection, LOCation estimation, and transmit-power estimation (DeLOC) for small-scale primary users. Our extensive evaluation results in a realistic CRN environment show that DeLOC achieves near-optimal detection performance, while meeting the detection requirements specified in the IEEE 802.22 standard draft. These findings provide useful insights and guidelines in designing a sensing scheme for detection of small-scale primaries in CRNs.