CRUAM-MAC: A Novel Cognitive Radio MAC protocol for

Dynamic Spectrum Access

J. Hernandez-Guillen, E. Rodriguez-Colina, R. Marceln-Jimnez, M. Pascoe Chalke
Department of Electrical Engineering
Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM), Campus Iztapalapa
Mexico City, Mexico
{ jhg, erod, calu, mpascoe }@xanum.uam.mx

Abstract Current proposals for Cognitive Radio Networks

(CRN) are created mainly to solve dynamic spectrum access
where several cognitive devices are searching for free
frequency bands, i.e. white spaces. This is in order to
communicate without or with minimum interference to
primary users (PU). Cognitive Radio devices must
coordinate the communication with peers when they have to
change their communication to another frequency band
when licensed user communications are established in the
same frequency band. Then this coordination comprises
sensing, decision making, sharing and mobility as main
functionalities. We propose a medium access control (MAC)
protocol for CRN which have been tested with a developed
discrete event simulator to characterize cognitive radio
devices communicating in presence of primary users. We
found that our proposed MAC operates with minimum
interference to PU transmissions; it also reduces the channel
access time and the packet loss when compared with an
overlay CSMA/CA implementation for CRN. These
advantages are in spite of the increase in the number of PUs
communicating. We show a complete solution for dynamic
spectrum access which incorporates a control mechanism to
coordinate the communication establishment between CR
devices. This solution has also the advantage that does not
require a control common channel (CCC).

We developed a discrete event simulator to test our

proposed medium access control (MAC) protocol for the
coexistence of CR devices and PUs. This simulator is
based on work reported in [3]. We named our MAC
proposal as CRUAM-MAC from Cognitive Radio
Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM)-MAC. The
rest of this work includes the following parts. Section II
comprises related work found in the literature. Section III
shows the parameters of the simulation for the proposed
MAC and a description of the CRUAM-MAC. In Section
IV the analysis of the results is addressed. Finally, in
Section V we present conclusions.
II.

RELATED WORK

In the literature we found several proposals of MAC

protocols for CRN, for instance [4-17]. Most of them
consider the access mode, the network architecture, the
number of transceivers, and the use of the common control
channel (CCC) as shown in [5], or without a CCC as used
in [17]. Several works studied include these characteristics
for the MAC design. We have considered these
characteristics for the classification shown in Table I.
TABLE I. MAC FOR CRN CLASSIFICATION

Keywords-component; Cognitive Radio Devices; Dynamic

Spectrum Access, Media Access Control

I.

Distributed

SRAC-MAC [6]

INTRODUCTION

Cognitive Radio (CR) devices must perform dynamic

spectrum access efficiently to be able to operate in overlay
mode with primary users (PU) [1]. In order to avoid or, at
least, reduce interference to PUs, CR devices must change
from occupied to free frequency slots when primary users
are detected. Therefore, CR devices should perform a set
of basic functionalities, such as spectrum sensing, decision
making and spectral mobility to operate properly [2].
These functionalities are important for the medium access
and to be able to communicate without missing
information when CR devices are moving to another
frequency band. Then the CR devices must coordinate the
communication with peers maintaining as fluent as
possible the communication in progress, leading to a
communication with minimum interruptions and keeping
the bit error rate (BER) in a reasonable level for standard
wireless communication and todays applications.

Architecture
Centralized

Random
Access

CCC
CSMA-MAC [8]

HC-MAC [9],
DCA-MAC [11],
DOSS [12]
Slotted
Access

Hybrid
Access

CCC

CREAM-MAC [13]

CCC

C-MAC [14],

Without
CCC

OS-MAC [4]
POMDP [15],
O-CSMA/CA [17],
SYN-MAC [18],

Underlay

Without
CCC

DSA-DRIVEN [19]
O-MAC [16]

Overlay

CCC
Without
CCC

Common Control Channel (CCC)

We analyzed work related to the CRUAM-MAC that

proposes the coordination of the communication between
CR devices using overlay mode without a CCC. For
example, the proposals in [14, 15] show a distributed
architecture which is the architecture proposed for

978-1-4673-5080-8/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

CRUAM-MAC. In [14] the authors consider a distributed

multi-channel wireless protocol that operates over
multiple channels. The protocol proposed in [15] uses a
message exchange to ensure a time slot which
synchronizes the frequency hop in case of collisions.
III.

THE CRUAM-MAC MODEL

Despite of the existence of various network simulation

tools such as Opnet, Netkit and ns2 among others, none of
them is designed specifically to emulate the behavior of
CRN. Therefore, we develop a discrete event simulator
which characterizes our proposed MAC independently
from other programming tools. In our simulator we
consider advantages such as, transparent operation of each
module, tailored tool for CRN, adaptable software to
specific needs, for example, the scalability of the
implemented system.
A. The proposed CRUAM-MAC
The proposed CRUAM-MAC solves the dynamic
spectrum access problem considering an overlay approach
when there is a pair of CR devices communicating.
However, it uses an underlay approach when the
handshaking for the connection of two CR devices is in
process. This eliminates the use of a CCC although
minimum interference is produced during connection. The
interference lapse depends on, the spectrum sensing time
and the exchange of messages to coordinate common free
channel options. The spectrum sensing is named spectrum
scanning in this work. The scanning receives information
about the channel status without extra power consumption
and informs the CR devices about spectrum white spaces,
i.e. free channels that can be used as backup (BK)
channels. These channels are used when the CR devices
must change their transmission in presence of a PU. We
refer to this action as channel move. The list of BK
channels is updated by the scanning according to changes
in the frequency spectrum. Hence, the information of
channels availability is acquired continuously and stored.
Once the connection is established on an available
channel, the interference is null until a PU attempts to
occupy the channel. To deal with the hidden terminal and
the far away terminal effects, the CRUAM-MAC is
designed considering the frame exchange sequence (FES),
RTS-CTS-DATA-ACK. The sequence of received
acknowledgements is also controlled. The CR device that
wants to communicate, mounts its signal as a peer to peer
network connection on a free channel, using a network
identifier (idNetwork). This idNetwork, in addition to the
CR identifier are used by the caller CR device, to specify
to whom it wants to call. Then the called CR device senses
the spectrum and it knows that another CR is calling it.
The main advantage of our proposal is that a common
control channel is not required. This advantage is because
in a CRN environment, the spectrum changes frequently
and finding a common channel to communicate is not
always possible. The CRUAM-MAC also solves when CR
devices cannot detect the same available channels by
sending coordination packets to establish communication

in other free channels by emitting a 4-bytes coordination

message, this packets produce a reduced interference time
to the PU, which is equal to the 4 bytes divided by the data
rate. This coordination messages are short and used only
for the channel moves, so the overhead is practically
depreciable and it does not affect the CRs power
consumption. The proposal considers the scalability of the
network, as a consequence, a modified version of the
CSMA/CA protocol for CR is implemented. This
implementation is based on a proposal shown in [17],
which is called overlay CSMA/CA or O-CSMA/CA. For
both, the O-CSMA/CA and the CRUAM-MAC models,
the CR devices compete for the medium resources.

Figure 1. CR communication frame in CRUAM-MAC

The frame used for general communication between

CR devices is shown in Figure 1. The first block of the
frame includes the information necessary to start the
handshaking process and for knowing if a packet is
successfully sent or not. Then the idSource is the CR
identification of the caller device and the idTarget is the
identification of the CR device to be called. The Channel
block determines the channel where the pair of devices
must communicate. The next block indicates the list of BK
channels. The counter block is used to count the number of
attempts to find a free channel to communicate. This is set
to a number greater than the number of BK channels, and
once the counter expires, the CR device has to wait until a
free channel is accessible. The idNetwork is a parameter
which identifies the communication in progress. The
idNetwork is also used when the CR device wants to call
to another CR device. Then, a communication signal with
the idTarget and the idNetwork is sent through some
available channels until the required CR device receives
this signal and answers. This establishes the
communication in the available channel. During the
handshaking there are two possible options, when the CR
devices move to a free BK channel, if available, or when
they search for a new channel to communicate and have to
wait. The idea of using the idNetwork is inspired by the
wireless LAN technology implemented by the
IEEE802.11b standard. In fact the IdNetwork is an
identifier number which corresponds to the signal of the
CR device trying to communicate, so the called device is
able to know by scanning the spectrum, who is calling it
and to acquire the list of available channels for both
devices. Thanks to the idNetwork, the CR transmitting can
identify, if the accessing device is a PU or another CR.
The block in the frame with the amount of packets
indicates how many packets have been successfully sent to
the receiver. Finally the data stream is incorporated in the
last part of the frame, where the information is divided in
packets of fixed size.

aborts the call and initiates the process again. Otherwise,

the Cs verifies if the Ct is communicating in the new
acquired free channel to continue with the previously
interrupted communication. If the Ct does not
communicate on the channel, a counter is incremented
until it reaches the maximum amount of attempts
programmed. The counter is compared to the maximum
amount of attempts programmed and if this value is less
than the maximum, the Cs refreshes the idNetwork and
waits for the Ct response. In other case, the
communication process starts from the beginning. The
proposed MAC can operate with or without BK channels.
For the later scenario, the control mechanism performance
depends only on the speed of the sensing function in order
to avoid interference to the PUs. The O-CSMA/CA model
and the CRUAM-MAC communication process are
illustrated in Figure 3. For both scenarios, it is shown
when two CR devices, Cs and Ct are communicating on
the same channel when a PU arrives to the channel and,
the CR devices have to move to continue with the
transmission. In the O-CSMA/CA model, the devices wait
for a FES and select another free channel considering the
Distributed Inter-Frame Space (DIFS) and Short InterFrame Space (SIFS). In contrast to the O-CSMA/CA, in
the CRUAM-MAC the CR devices select one of the
BK channels and move in case of a PU arrival.

Figure 2. Flow chart of CRUAM-MAC implemented on the CR

devices

The CRUAM-MAC process is illustrated in the flow

chart shown in Figure 2. This figure describes the
processes of handshaking and communication between
CR devices and, the procedure for the channel moves to
the BK channels when PU arrives. For the
communication, the CR devices interaction assumes two
possible roles, a caller CR, i.e., the CR source device (Cs)
and a called CR, i.e., the targeted CR device (Ct). Then, if
a CR device wants to communicate with other CR device,
the Cs mounts a connection on a free channel using the
idNetwork. Meanwhile all CR devices are sensing the
spectrum and the Ct detects when it is being called, by
reading the idNetwork created for the Cs. The devices
continue sensing the medium during communication to
verify if the channel is still free or PUs have been arrived.
If a PU is detected, i.e., a collision takes place, the CR
devices already know where to move as soon as possible,
this using the information of the BK channels. In case that
they do not find a new common free channel, the Cs

Figure 3. Communication process using the O-CSMA/CA and

CRUAM-MAC when CR devices are communicating and when a PU
occupies the channel.

The CRUAM-MAC does not use the DIFS and the

transmission continues with the last packet transmitted by
the CR devices and without the FES. Figure 4 shows two
CR devices (Cs1 and Ct1) communicating on the same
channel, whilst a third CR device (Cs2) is contending for
the same channel. In the O-CSMA/CA model, the Cs2

Figure 4. Communication process using the O-CSMA/CA and

CRUAM-MAC when two CR devices are communicating and another
CR occupies the channel.

In contrast to the O-CSMA/CA, the CRUAM-MAC

considers that Cs2 has a mechanism to look for available
channels, which represents a significant advantage. For
the O-CSMA/CA model at the start of the communication
the DIFS is applied. This is followed by the RTS
command and by the SIFS. This sequence is sensed by the
Cs2 thus, the channel is busy and its communication is
deferred. Then it waits an additional DIFS interval and
generates a random back-off delay. The Cs2 repeats this
process and, as a consequence, the communication defers
again. Using the CRUAM-MAC, the Cs2 does not wait
the DIFS time, instead, the Cs2 looks for another channel,
as show in Figure 4. Later, it creates the idNetwork in the
new available channel, waiting for their counterpart to
respond.
B. Parameters of the simulation
The discrete event simulator proposed is a customized
implementation which considers cognitive radio and
primary devices coexisting in common frequency bands.
The input for the system is a representation of the
frequency bands where the available bandwidth is divided
in channels. This channel division is represented as a
vector with free and busy channels which corresponds to
the spectrum changes. Then the CR devices and the PUs
occupy and liberate such channels randomly. The channel
state is represented by logic zeros for free channels and
logic ones for busy channels [20]. Our simulator has
been tested with various scenarios and a number of
performance tests contrasted to a simulated O-CSMA/CA
model shown in [17].

IV.

ANALISYS OF THE RESULTS

The results shown in the simulation are based on a test

scenario where PUs access the channels randomly. For the
CRUAM-MAC, if a pair of CR devices is communicating
and suddenly a PU occupies this channel, the involved CR
devices have to move as soon as possible to another
available free channel. The simulation parameters are,
5 Mbps data rate for the transmission of a file of
30 packets of 1500 bytes each, where we test also different
packet sizes. We split the file in packets to acknowledge
the received packets in order to manage the number of
packets received correctly, i.e., goodput. Thus if the CR
communication is interrupted by a PU, the CR
communication can continue from the last acknowledged
packet, although the CR devices have to move to other
channels.
A. CRUAM-MAC with two CR devices communicating
As previously mentioned, a pair of CR devices
establishes communication while they are interrupted by a
PU occupying the channel at random occurrence. This
random occurrence simulates case scenarios that can be
recreated when CR devices moves spatially from one place
to another or just because the PUs operate switching on
and off at random basis. The CR devices exchange
information by sending a testing file of 45 kbytes which is
divided into packets of 1500 bytes. The optimum time to
transmit this testing file without interruptions, i.e. without
channel movements, is around 0.07 seconds as shown in
Figure 5. The elapsed time comprises the time of
30 packets sent and their corresponding acknowledgments
received by the sender. This is an optimal time because;
there is no need to move to other channel during
transmission of the entire testing file. The elapsed time
when the two CR devices are communicating and when
the number of channel movements is varied up to eight
times is illustrated in Figure 5. The elapsed time considers
that all the information is correctly transmitted. It also
shows the communication when the number of
BK channels varies from one to six.
0.12

0.115

CRUAM-MAC

0.11
0.105

0BK
1BK

0.1

time [sec]

senses the channel busy and so, it has to wait until the
channel occupied by Cs1 and Ct1 is available.

2BK
3BK

0.095

4BK
5BK

0.09
0.085

6BK

0.08
0.075
0.07
0

Channel moves

Figure 5. System performance with a pair of CR devices

communicating, and with BK channels

The performance of the system is depicted when the

BK channel availability is not always present, then these
results show when the BK channels can be occupied by a
PU in any unpredictable moment. We also tested the
CRUAM-MAC performance for different packet sizes in
order to find, the most favorable ratio between channels
moves, and retransmissions of unacknowledged packets,
see Figure 6. The goodput for the transfer of the testing
file which is divided in packet sizes of 3000 bytes results
the best performance, as shown in Figure 6. This is
because the number of acknowledgments is lower than the
other case scenarios when packet sizes are smaller.

Figure 7 shows that the elapsed time increases when the

CR devices have to find free channels to establish
communication.
C. CRUAM-MAC vs O-CSMA/CA
We compared CRUAM-MAC vs O-CSMA/CA for the
transmission of a file where secondary users are
contending for the medium access. Figure 8 shows the
goodput of the CRUAM-MAC and O-CSMA/CA
proposals. We can see that our proposal improves the
performance obtained with the O-CSMA/CA although the
CRUAM-MAC operates without BK channels.

350000

4000

CRUAM-MAC

300000

O-CSMA/CA

200000

1000 bytes

3400

0BK

1500 bytes

3200

1BK

150000

goodput [kbps]

3600

3000 bytes

100000

2BK

3000

3BK
2800

50000

CRUAM-MAC

goodput [bps]

3800

500 bytes

250000

4BK
2600

5BK

0
0

2400

Channel moves

Channel moves

Figure 6. System performance varing the packet size

Figure 8.

We expected this behavior but we wanted to measure how

the transmission is affected by the interruptions per
channel moves.

0.125

CRUAM-MAC
0.12

time [sec]

0BK
0.115

1BK
2BK

0.11

3BK
0.105

4BK

0.155

O-CSMA/CA
0.145

0BK

time [sec]

0.135

1BK
0.125

2BK

0.115

3BK

0.105

4BK

CRUAM-MAC

B. CRUAM-MAC with more than two CR devices

communicating
In the second scenario, we consider 20 CR devices
sending a file of 45 kbytes each and splitting it in packets
of 1500 bytes at 5 Mbps data rate. The communication is
also evaluated when the number of BK channels is varied
from one to six. The random entrance of PUs into the
channels that are occupied by CR devices is simulated
with a random uniform distribution. The number of
channel moves required by the CR devices is plotted
against the time elapsed to conclude the testing file
transfer.

CRUAMAC vs O-CSMA/CA with PU presence.

5BK
0.095
0.085
0

Channel moves

Figure 9. CRUAMAC vs O-CSMA/CA with PU presence.

Therefore, if BK channels are available the CRUAMMAC has significant advantage over the O-CSMA/CA. As
observed in Figure 9 the CRUAM-MAC has performance
advantage over O-CSMA/CA even if the CR devices
cannot find available BK channels. Despite of the small
time advantage shown of the CRUAM-MAC over the OCSMA/CA proposal it is important to remark that the
achieved goodput improves considerably due to the lack
of interruptions during the CR devices communication.

5BK

0.1

6BK
0.095
0

Channel moves

Figure 7. System performance with 20 CR devices communicating and

with BK channels

V.

CONCLUSIONS

We present a novel MAC algorithm (CRUAM-MAC)

which provides a complete solution for dynamic spectrum
access for cognitive radio (CR) devices in presence of
primary users. This MAC incorporates a control

mechanism
to
coordinate
the
communication
establishment between CR devices. The performance of
the simulation was tested for several scenarios where the
spectrum changes considerably. The CR devices search
for available channels to communicate and coordinate
with its peers for the channel moves and thus, avoiding
interference to PUs. One of the main advantages of our
proposal is that does not require a control common
channel (CCC) by using a connection identifier which can
be detected by other CR devices sensing the spectrum
without extra power consumption. In addition, the
CRUAM-MAC considers a mechanism to coordinate the
channel moves in presence of primary users, which
represents a significant advantage in mobility tasks.
The usefulness of CRUAM-MAC algorithm depends
on the scanning time interval and the number of available
free channels. The simulations show that CRUAM-MAC
reduces the packet loss due to the communication among
CR devices is not interrupted significantly during the
channel moves. Additionally, the channel access is faster
than the compared protocol proposal based in CSMA/CA
proposed. The complete dynamic spectrum access
solution has a scheme which deals with the hidden and far
away terminal problems. The CRUAM-MAC was
designed for local area networks, however, for future
work the operation for regional networks will be explore.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This project is supported under the grants awarded by
the PROMEP program of the Mexican Secretary of Public
Education (SEP), and by the Council of Science and
Technology of Mexico (CONACyT).
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