A novel architecture for distributed spectrum sensing for cognitive radio applications

The cognitive radio appears as a tempting solution for the spectrum scarcity problem. It allows spectrum sharing between primary licensed user and many secondary users. To improve the reliability in detecting the presence of primary user, a distributed spectrum sensing approach is proposed. In this paper, we introduce a new decision combination scheme, in which each secondary radio is assigned with a weight of contribution. This value can be changed according to the performance of the secondary radio. The distributed approach helps to mitigate challenges that a stand-alone spectrum sensing approach may encounter such as shadowing and fading. In addition, as shown in the simulation results, it also helps to improve the probability of detection while decrease dramatically the probability of false alarm.