CHAPTER-1

An Introduction to Cognitive Radio Networks

1.1. Introduction
The usage of radio spectrum resources and the regulation of radio emissions are
coordinated by national regulatory bodies like the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). These regulatory bodies assign spectrum to licensed holders, also known as primary
users (PUs), on a long-term basis for large geographical regions. However, a large portion of
the assigned spectrum remains under utilized as illustrated in Fig. 1. The inefficient usage of
the limited spectrum necessitates the development of dynamic spectrum access techniques,
where users who have no spectrum licenses, also known as secondary users (SUs), are
allowed to use the temporarily unused licensed spectrum.

Fig.1. Spectrum usage [1].

This underutilization of the electromagnetic spectrum has led to think in terms of
spectrum holes, for which the following definition [2] has been offered:
A spectrum hole is a band of frequencies assigned to a primary user, but, at a
particular time and specific geographic location, the band is not being utilized by that user.
Spectrum utilization can be improved significantly by making it possible for a SU to
access a spectrum hole unoccupied by the PU at the right location and the time in question.
This necessity of proper utilization of the frequency spectrum has lead to the concept of
cognitive radio.

1.2. Cognitive Radio Definitions

The term cognitive is derived from the word cognition. According to the
Encyclopedia of Computer Science [3], a three point definition of the word cognition has
been coined:
1) Mental states and processes intervene between input stimuli and output responses.
2) The mental states and processes are described by algorithms.
3) The mental states and processes lend themselves to scientific investigations.
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According to Haykin [4], cognitive radio has been defined as:

Cognitive radio is an intelligent wireless communication system that is
aware of its surrounding environment (i.e., outside world), and uses the methodology of
understanding-by-building to learn from the environment and adapt its internal states to
statistical variations in the incoming radio frequency stimuli by making corresponding
changes in certain operating parameters (e.g., transmit power; carrier-frequency, and
modulation strategy) in real-time, with two primary objectives in mind:

Highly reliable communication whenever and wherever needed.

Efficient utilization of the radio spectrum.
A Cognitive Radio is defined by the researchers at VIRGINIA
POLYTECHNIQUE INSTITUTE and STATE UNIVERSITY as a software defined
radio with cognitive engine brain.

1.3. Tasks of Cognitive Radio

From the definition given by Haykin [4], two main characteristics of the cognitive radio
can be defined [1]:
Cognitive capability: Cognitive capability refers to the ability of the radio
technology to capture or sense the information from its radio environment. This
capability cannot simply be realized by monitoring the power in some frequency band
of interest but more sophisticated techniques are required in order to capture the
temporal and spatial variations in the radio environment and avoid interference to other
users. Through this capability, the portions of the spectrum that are unused at a specific
time or location can be identified. Consequently, the best spectrum and appropriate
operating parameters can be selected.
Reconfigurability: The cognitive capability provides spectrum awareness whereas
reconfigurability enables the radio to be dynamically programmed according to the
radio environment. More specifically, the cognitive radio can be programmed to
transmit and receive on a variety of frequencies and to use different transmission access
technologies supported by its hardware design.
In cognitive radio, the cognition process starts with the sensing of RF stimuli. The
cognitive radio is solely concerned with three cognitive tasks [4]:
1) Radio-scene analysis, which encompasses the following:
estimation of interference temperature of the radio environment;
detection of spectrum holes.
2) Channel identification, which encompasses the following:
estimation of channel-state information (CSI);
prediction of channel capacity for use by the transmitter.
3) Transmit-power control and dynamic spectrum management.
Tasks (1) and (2) are carried out in the receiver and task (3) is carried out by the
transmitter.

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Fig.2. Basic cognitive cycle [4]

The cognitive cycle of Fig. 2 pertains to a one-way communication path, with the
transmitter and receiver located in two different places. In a two-way communication
scenario, a transceiver (i.e., combination of transmitter and receiver) is placed at each end of
the communication path; all the cognitive functions embodied in the cognitive cycle of Fig. 2
are built into each of the two transceivers.
Thus, it is obvious that the cognitive module in the transmitter must work in a
harmonious manner with the cognitive modules in the receiver. In order to maintain this
harmony between the cognitive radios transmitter and receiver at all times, feedback channel
is needed connecting the receiver to the transmitter. Through the feedback channel, the
receiver is enabled to convey information on the performance of the forward link to the
transmitter. The cognitive radio is, therefore, by necessity, an example of a feedback
communication system.

1.4. History of Cognitive Radio

The idea of Cognitive Radio was first presented officially by JOSEPH MITOLLA
in a seminar at KTH, The Royal Institute of Technology in Stokholm in 1998,
published later in an article by MITOLLA & GERALD Q.MAGUIRE in 1999. It was a
novel approach in wireless communications that MITOLLA later described as a fully
reconfigurable wireless blackbox that automatically changes its communication
variables in response to network and users demands.
The first phone call over a cognitive radio network was made on Monday 11th
January, 2010 in Centre for Wireless Communications at University of Oulu using
CWCs Cognitive Radio network CRAMNET.

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1.5. Cognitive Radio Transceiver Architecture

Fig. 3. Cognitive Radio Transceiver Architecture [6]

In order to provide cognitive capability and reconfigurability, cognitive radio (CR)
requires a radio frequency (RF) transceiver architecture. The main components of a CR
transceiver are the radio front-end and the baseband processing unit that were originally
proposed for software-defined radio (SDR), as shown in Fig. 3 [6]. In the RF front-end the
received signal is amplified, mixed, and analog-to-digital (A/D) converted. In the baseband
processing unit, the signal is modulated/ demodulated. Each component can be reconfigured
via a control bus to adapt to the time-varying RF environment. The characteristic of the CR
transceiver is the wideband RF front-end that is capable of simultaneous sensing over a wide
frequency range. This functionality is related mainly to the RF hardware technologies, such
as wideband antenna, power amplifier, and adaptive filter. RF hardware for the CR should be
capable of being tuned to any part of a large range of spectrum. However, because the CR
transceiver receives signals from various transmitters operating at different power levels,
bandwidths, and locations; the RF front-end should have the capability to detect a weak
signal in a large dynamic range, which is a major challenge in CR transceiver design.

1.6. Cognitive Radio Network Architecture

With the development of cognitive radio technologies, SUs, who are not authorized
with spectrum usage rights, can utilize the temporally unused licensed bands owned by the
PUs. Therefore in a cognitive radio network architecture, the components include both a
secondary network and a primary network, as shown in Fig. 3 [6].
A secondary network is defined as a network composed of a set of SUs
with/without a secondary base station (SBS).
A primary network is defined as a set of PUs and one or more primary base
stations (PBS).

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Fig. 4. Cognitive Radio Network Architecture [7]

SUs can only access the licensed spectrum when it is not occupied by a PU. The
opportunistic spectrum access of SUs is usually coordinated by a SBS, which is a fixed
infrastructure component serving as a hub of the secondary network. Both SUs and SBSs are
equipped with cognitive radio (CR) functions. If several secondary networks share one
common spectrum band, their spectrum usage may be coordinated by a central network
entity, called spectrum broker.
The spectrum broker collects operation information from each secondary network, and
allocates the network resources to achieve efficient and fair spectrum sharing.
PUs are authorized to use certain licensed spectrum bands under the coordination of
PBSs. Their transmission should not be interfered by secondary networks. PUs and PBSs are
in general not equipped with CR functions. Therefore, if a secondary network shares a
licensed spectrum band with a primary network, besides detecting the unutilized spectrum
and utilizing the best spectrum band, the secondary network is required to immediately detect
the presence of a PU and direct the secondary transmission to another available band so as to
avoid interfering with primary transmission.

1.6. Interference Temperature

Since the interference present in the surroundings of a Cognitive Radio Network (CRN)
plays a pivotal role in proper functioning of the CRN, a new quantity, named interference
temperature, has been introduced to quantify and manage the sources of this interference.
Moreover, the specification of an interference-temperature limit provides a worst case
characterization of the RF environment in a particular frequency band and at a particular
geographic location, where the receiver could be expected to operate satisfactorily.
The interference temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin. Moreover, the
interference-temperature limit (Tmax) multiplied by Boltzmanns constant (k=1.3807x10-23
joules per degree Kelvin) yields the corresponding upper limit on permissible power spectral
density in a frequency band of interest, and that density is measured in joules per second or,
equivalently, watts per hertz.
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1.7. Detection of Spectrum Holes

In the context of detection of the presence of spectrum holes in the given
frequency band, the spectra has been broadly classified into three predominant types
[4]:
1) Black spaces, which are occupied by high-power local interferers some of the
time.
2) Grey spaces, which are partially occupied by low power interferers.
3) White spaces, which are free of RF interferers except for ambient noise, made
up of natural and artificial forms of noise.
White spaces (for sure) and grey spaces (to a lesser extent) are obvious candidates for
use by SUs. Of course, black spaces are to be avoided whenever and wherever the RF
emitters residing in them are switched ON. However, when at a particular geographic
location those emitters are switched OFF and the black spaces assume the new role of
spectrum holes, cognitive radio provides the opportunity for creating significant white
spaces by invoking its dynamic-coordination capability for spectrum sharing.

1.8. Research Issues in the field of Cognitive Radio

Though cognitive radio itself is a very new concept, some topics related to it that are
highlighted in research are:

Spectrum Sensing: Spectrum sensing enables SUs to adapt to the environment by
detecting the spectrum holes without causing interference to the primary network.

Transmit Power Control: Control of transmit power maximises the data rate of
each user, subject to the power constraints of the system and the individual users
of the same CRN as well.

Dynamic Spectrum Management: Dynamic spectrum management controls the
fair distribution of spectrum holes among the SUs.

1.9. References
[1] I. F. Akyildiz, W. Y. Lee, M. C. Vuran, and S. Mohanty, Next generation/ dynamic
spectrum access/cognitive radio wireless networks: A survey, Computer Networks, Vol. 50,
pp. 21272159, May 2006.
[2] P. Kolodzy et al., Next generation communications: Kickoff meeting, in Proc. DARPA,
Oct. 17, 2001.
[3] A. Ralston and E. D. Reilly, Encyclopedia of Computer Science. New York: Van
Nostrand, 1993, pp. 186186.
[4] S. Haykin, Cognitive Radio: Brain-empowered Wireless Communications, IEEE
Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC), Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 201-220, Feb.
2005.
[5] J. Mitola and G. Q. Maguire, Cognitive radio: Making software radios more personal,
IEEE Personal Communications, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 1318, Aug. 1999.
[6] F. K. Jondral, Software-Defined Radio Basic and Evolution to Cognitive Radio,
EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2005.
[7] I. F. Akyildiz, W. Y. Lee, M. C. Vuran, and S. Mohanty, A Survey on Spectrum
Management in Cognitive Radio Networks, IEEE Communications Magazine, Vol. 46, No.
4, pp. 40-48, Apr. 2008.
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