A common lexicon and design issues surrounding cognitive radio networks operating in the presence of jamming

This paper discusses issues surrounding the design of cognitive radio (CR) networks that must operate in the presence of jamming and hostile Electronic Countermeasure (ECM) environments. Much of the research to date in the CR community has focused on spectrum-sensing techniques and multiple-access methods. Until recently, little work had been done in the general area of wireless network security and specifically the area of performance in the presence of jamming. Discussions on this topic have been inhibited in the greater CR community by a poorly defined lexicon, which makes addressing issues such as security and performance in jamming difficult. This paper attempts to provide a basic lexicon that can be used to clearly discuss the issues surrounding CR network security and performance in the presence of jamming. This paper then goes on to discuss the various jammer threats that might be encountered by a CR network and the ramifications of these threat types on CR network design.