Channel selection strategy for Cognitive Radio using NS2

For Cognitive Radio network´s (CRN´s) channel selection plays a very crucial role in efficient and reliable data distribution. In the perspective of Cognitive Radio Network (CRN), channel selection is more difficult because the channel may be occupied by primary radio (PR) nodes. Furthermore, Cognitive Radio (CR) transmission must not degrade the reception quality of PR nodes and should instantaneously switch to other available band, each time a neighboring PR activity is detected. As a consequence, it is important and but tremendously difficult for CR nodes to properly select channel allowing reliable communication. This paper proposes a method which predicts future idle times of various channels based on the past sequence which allows a cognitive radio (CR) to select the best channels for data transmission. The simulation results using NS2 validates that intelligent channel selection improves the throughput and reduces channel switching as compared to random channel selection.