A resource scheduling scheme for spectrum aggregation in cognitive radio based heterogeneous networks

In spectrum aggregation (SA), two or more component carriers (CCs) of different bandwidths in different bands can be aggregated to support wider transmission bandwidth. The current resource scheduling schemes for spectrum aggregation are not optimal or suitable for CR based heterogeneous networks (HetNets). Consequently, the authors propose a novel resource scheduling scheme for spectrum aggregation in CR based HetNets, termed as cognitive radio based resource scheduling (CR-RS) scheme. CR-RS has a three-level structure. Under a dynamic traffic model, an equivalent throughput of the CCs based on the knowledge of primary users (PUs) is given. On this basis, the CR users data transmission time of each CC is equal in CR-RS. The simulation results show that CR-RS has the better performance than the current resource scheduling schemes in the CR based HetNets. Meanwhile, CR-RS is also effective in other spectrum aggregation systems which are not CR based HetNets.