The smart radio channel change protocol a primary user avoidance technique for dynamic spectrum sharing cognitive radios to facilitate co-existence in wireless communication networks

This paper details the design, implementation, simulation, and testing of the Smart Radio Channel Change Protocol (CCP), a primary user avoidance technique for dynamic spectrum sharing cognitive radios in wireless communication networks. The CCP enables a digital cognitive radio to detect the presence of legacy analog or digital radios, and to facilitate channel-change procedures to use an alternate, vacant block of spectrum. This allows primary and secondary users to co-exist in the same band with minimal interference and reductions in quality of service (QoS). The CCP also provides an advantage to other systems´ frequency management schemes in terms of simplicity of design and execution. We evaluate the CCP´s performance through OMNeT++ simulations and experiments in a five node laboratory network testbed. We present our results in terms of the CCP´s ability to detect and avoid the primary user and record its improvement to user QoS.