Modeling and Simulation for Cognitive Radio Networks in OPNET
Bosung Kim*, Sehoon Kwon*, Nguyen Manh Tuan*, Jong-yon Kim*, Byeong-hee Roh*, Jungwook Choi**,
and Soo Bum Park**
*Graduate School of Information and Communication, Ajou University, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, 443-749
**LIGNex1, Pangyo Techno Valley, Sampyeong-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, 463-400
E-mail: {kbs8354, kksh1098, nmtuan, kmakjy, bhroh}@ajou.ac.kr, {jungwook.choi, sbpark93}@lignex1.com
Abstract
Cognitive Radio (CR) technology is envisaged to solve the
problems in wireless networks resulting from the limited
available spectrum and the inefficiency in the spectrum usage by
exploiting the existing wireless spectrum opportunistically. In
CR networks, identifying the available spectrum resource
through spectrum sensing, deciding on the optimal sensing and
transmission times, and coordinating with the other users for
spectrum access are the important functions of the Medium
Access Control (MAC) protocols. Unfortunately, even though
Modeling and Simulation (M&S) such networks have become
important for further study, they are not currently available in
some popular simulators, such as OPNET. In this paper, we
implement a Spectrum Sensing model with two-state Markov
chain to estimate the Primary User (PU) activities, and Spectrum
Sharing model, i.e. CR MAC, to use remaining resources each
Secondary Users (SUs) efficiently. We evaluate the system
performance, e.g. throughput, of CR devices with configuration
of attributes in accordance with primary and secondary networks.
1. Introduction
Todays wireless networks are regulated by a fixed spectrum
assignment policy, i.e., the spectrum is regulated by national
regulatory organization, such as Federal Communications
Commission (FCC). The FCC assigns spectrum to licensed
holders, also known as primary users (PUs), or services on a
long term basis for large geographical regions. However, a large
portion of the assigned spectrum remains underutilized as shown
in Figure 1 [1].
Figure 1: Spectrum utilization
The inefficient utilization of the limited spectrum necessitates
the development of dynamic spectrum access (DSA)
technologies, where users who have no spectrum licenses, also
known as secondary users (SUs), are allowed to use the
temporarily unused licensed spectrum. In recent years, the FCC
has been considering more flexible and comprehensive uses of
1
the available spectrum [2], through the use of cognitive radio
(CR) technology [3].
The CR is considered to the key enabling technology that
enables next generation (XG) communication networks, also
known as DSA networks, to utilize the spectrum more efficiently
in an opportunistic fashion without interfering with PUs [4].
DSA technologies allow CR to operate in the best available
channel. More specifically, the CR technology will enable the
users to (1) determine which portions of the spectrum is
available and detect the presence of licensed users when a user
operates in a licensed band (spectrum sensing), (2) select the
best available channel (spectrum decision), (3) coordinate access
to this channel with other users (spectrum sharing), and (4)
vacate the channel when a licensed user is detected (spectrum
mobility) [1].
Once a CR supports the capability to select the best available
channel, the next challenge is to make the network protocols
adaptive to the available spectrum. Hence above four spectrum
management functions are required in an XG communication
networks to support this adaptivity. These functions of XG
networks enable spectrum-aware communication protocols [1].
Considering the more flexible and comprehensive use of the
spectrum resources, especially when SUs coexist with PUs,
traditional spectrum allocation schemes and spectrum access
protocols may no longer be applicable. So, new spectrum
management approaches need to be developed to solve new
challenges in research related to CR, specifically, in spectrum
sensing and dynamic spectrum sharing [4].
DSA technologies in CR networks have been a research hotspot
because of its promise to improve the utilization of the assigned
but unused spectrum. In this paper, we introduce CR modeling
and simulation (M&S) framework to support development of
new technologies related to spectrum management functions.
Besides cost reduction through real test-bed, this M&S
framework can help us to apply previous schemes and
implement a proposed one on such a small budget. We also
expect that it can be used to extend simulation studies of CR
networks.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, the
concept of CR networks and spectrum management functions
are introduced. In Section 3, the modeling direction for CR
networks is suggested. In Section 4, CR M&S framework in
terms of system and node models is proposed by use of OPNET
modeler. In Section 5, with this framework, we evaluate the
performance and compare one scheme with others in terms of
SU utilization. Finally, this paper is concluded in Section 6.
2. Related Works
2.1. Cognitive Radio (CR)
The CR is the key technology that enables a Cognitive Radio Ad
Hoc Network (CRAHN) to use spectrum in a dynamic manner.
The term, cognitive radio, can formally be defined as follows
[2]:
A Cognitive Radio is radio that can change it transmitter
parameters based on interaction with the environment in
which it operates.
From this definition, two main characteristics of the CR can be
defined as follows [7][8]:
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 bands of
interest but more sophisticated techniques, such as
autonomous learning and action decision are required in
order to capture the temporal and spatial variations in the
radio environment and avoid interference to other uses.
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 appropriated 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
programmed to transmit and receive on a variety of
frequencies and to use different transmission access
technologies supported by its hardware design.
2.2. Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks (CRAHNs)
The changing spectrum environment and the importance of
protecting the transmission of the licensed users of the spectrum
mainly differentiate classical ad hoc networks from CRAHNs.
These features of CRAHNs compared to classical ad hoc
networks as follows [5]:
Choice of Transmission Spectrum: In CRAHNs, the available
spectrum bands are distributed over a wide frequency range,
which vary over time and space. Thus each user shows
different spectrum availability according to the PU activity.
As opposed this, classical ad hoc networks generally operate
on a pre-decided channel that remains unchanged with time.
For the ad hoc networks with multi-channel support, all the
channels are continuously available for transmission, through
nodes may select few of the latter from this set based on self-
interference constraints. A key distinguishing factor is the
primary consideration of protecting the PU transmission,
which is entirely missing in classical ad hoc networks.
Topology Control: Ad hoc networks lack centralized support,
and hence must rely on local coordination to gather topology
information. In classical ad hoc networks, this is easily
accomplished by periodic beacon messages on the channel.
However, in CRAHNs, as the licensed spectrum opportunity
exists over large range of frequencies, sending beacons over
2
all the possible channels is not feasible. Thus, CRAHNs are
highly probable to have incomplete topology information,
which leads in an increase in collisions among SUs as well as
interference to the PUs.
Multi-Hop/Multi-Spectrum Transmission: The end-to-end
route in the CRAHN consists of multiple hops having
different channels according to the spectrum availability.
Thus, CRAHNs require collaboration between routing and
spectrum allocation in establishing these routes. Moreover,
the spectrum switches on the links are frequent based on PU
arrivals. As opposed to classical ad hoc networks,
maintaining end-to-end QoS involves not only the traffic
load, but also how many different channels and possibly
spectrum bands are used in the path, the number of PU
induced spectrum change events, consideration of periodic
spectrum sensing functions, among others.
Distinguishing Mobility from PU Activity: In classical ad hoc
networks, routes formed over multiple hops may periodically
experience disconnections caused by node mobility. These
cases may be detected when the next hop node in the path
does not reply to messages and the retry limit is exceeded at
the link layer. However, in CRAHNs, a node may not be able
to transmit immediately if it detects the presence of a PU on
the spectrum, even in the absence of mobility. Thus,
correctly inferring mobility conditions and initiating the
appropriate recovery mechanism in CRAHNs necessitate a
different approach from the classical ad hoc networks.
2.3. Spectrum Management Functions
In order to adapt to dynamic spectrum environment, the CRAHN
necessitates the spectrum-aware operations, which form a
cognitive cycle [1]. As shown in Figure 2, the steps of the
cognitive cycle consist of four spectrum management functions:
spectrum sensing, spectrum decision, spectrum sharing, and
spectrum mobility. The followings are the main features of
spectrum management functions [1]:
Figure 2: Cognitive radio cycle
2.3.1. Spectrum Sensing
A SU can be allocated to only on unused portion of the spectrum.
Therefore, a SU should monitor the available spectrum bands,
and then detect spectrum holes. Spectrum sensing is a basic
functionality in CR networks, and hence it is closely related to
other spectrum management functions as well as layering
protocol to provide information on spectrum availability. In
order to sense channels more precisely, following functionalities
are required: PU detection, cooperation, and sensing control.
2.3.2. Spectrum Decision
Once the available spectrums are identified, it is essential that
the SUs select the most appropriate band according to their QoS
requirements. It is important to characterize the spectrum band
in terms of both radio environment and the statistical behaviors
of the PUs. In order to design a decision algorithm that
incorporates dynamic spectrum characteristics, we need to
obtain a priori information regarding the PU activity.
In this paper, we assume that SU can only select one channel for
sensing and the state of the system is only partially observable.
As a solution of the constraints, simple memoryless access
policies with periodic channel sensing are employed as follows:
Periodic Sensing with Memoryless Access (PS-MA) In
single-user network, the SU senses the channels in an
increasing order at the beginning of each slot, starting from
an arbitrary channel. If the i-th channel is sensed to be idle,
the SU transmits in the sensed channel with transmission
probability.
Index Sensing with Memoryless Access (IS-MA) In
single-user network, the SU senses the first channel in the
ordered list. If idle, the SU then keeps sensing the first
channel on the list until the first busy sensing result, after
which the SU switches to the next channel in the list and
transmit probabilistically.
Orthogonal Periodic Sensing with Memoryless Access
(OPS-MA) In multi-user network, OPS-MA implements
PS-MA for each SU in an orthogonal manner. The K users
periodically sense the channels using different sensing
phases. With larger N primary channels than SUs, the K
users can be fit in K orthogonal sensing phases.
2.3.3. Spectrum Sharing
Since there may be multiple SUs trying to access the spectrum,
their transmissions should be coordinated to prevent collisions in
overlapping portions of the spectrum. Spectrum sharing provides
the capability to share the spectrum resource opportunistically
with multiple CR users which includes resource allocation to
avoid interference caused to the primary network. For this, game
theoretical approaches have also been used to analyze the
behavior of selfish SUs. Furthermore, this function necessitates a
CR MAC protocol, which facilitates the sensing control to
distribute the sensing task among the coordinating nodes as well
as spectrum access to determine the timing for transmission.
2.3.4. Spectrum Mobility
If a PU is detected in the specific portion of the spectrum in use,
SUs should vacate the spectrum immediately and continue their
communications in another vacant portion of the spectrum. For
this, either a new spectrum must be chosen or the affected link
may be circumvented entirely. Thus, spectrum mobility
necessitates a spectrum handoff scheme to detect the link failure
and to switch the current transmission to a new route or a new
spectrum band with minimum quality degradation. This requires
3
collaborating, and routing protocols. Furthermore, this
functionality needs a connection management scheme to sustain
the performance of upper layer protocols by mitigating the
influence of spectrum switching.
3. Modeling Direction for CR Networks
3.1. System Model
Figure 3: Illustration of a general access protocol
As shown in Figure 3, we consider the problem of multi-user
cognitive access in decentralized CR networks with N primary
channels, i.e., PUs, and K number of SUs. The SUs are capable
of channel sensing and follow a slotted transmission structure. In
particular, a SU chooses to sense one of the primary channels at
the beginning of each slot, i.e. sensing point, and makes the
transmission decision accordingly, which mean that SU has
single radio.
In this paper, we consider spectrum sensing, spectrum decision,
and spectrum sharing, except for spectrum mobility as spectrum
management functions. As a next step, we will upgrade the CR
framework concerning about spectrum mobility related to nodes
mobility and routing issues.
3.2. Spectrum Sensing Model
Firstly, in the case of spectrum sensing, we have to consider
three aspects: PU detection, cooperation, and sensing control.
For PU detection of spectrum sensing, we employ the
Continuous Time Markov Chain (CTMC) ON/OFF process as
channel model to sense existence of primary transmission [9]. So,
we can easily obtain the Channel Status Information (CSI) from
the channel model, and it can reduce the overhead of simulation.
For cooperation of spectrum sensing, we assume applications
requiring rapid but short-term deployment and applications
denied of cooperation from existing radio access networks are
used. So, in this paper, a decentralized cognitive MAC [9],
where each SU decides individually how to sense the spectrum
and how to gain access, is employed.
For sensing control of spectrum sensing, this is classified into
out-of-band sensing, which SUs can find available spectrum
holes over a wide frequency range for their transmission, and in-
band sensing, which SUs can monitor the spectrum band during
the transmission and detect the presence of primary networks. In
this paper, we adopt a Partially Observable Markov Decision
Process (POMDP) [9]. So, we implement that SUs can select
one channel, and check whether the channel is idle or busy at the
beginning of each slot.
3.3. Spectrum Decision Model transmission in N channels, and provides the data structure for
As we mentioned in Section 3.1 and 3.2, we use SU with single CR_node, e.g., SU to be able to select one channel and sense the
radio and applications requiring rapid but short-term deployment channel. The CR_config plays a role in channel selection of
and applications denied of cooperation from existing radio spectrum decision, in-band sensing of spectrum sensing, and
access networks. In the case of SU with single radio, this spectrum access of spectrum sharing.
limitation makes the problem of finding an optimal access
strategy challenging, since the state of the system at any time is
only partially observed [10]. In this paper, we postulate a
periodic sensing (PS) approach to render the problem, thus
separating the sensing and the access part of the problem.

In [11], they introduced such PS approaches: FO-OSA, PS-MA,

IS-MA, and OPS-MA. The FO-OSA, full observation and
optimal spectrum access, is used as a throughput upper bound in
simulations. The PS-MA and IS-MA are for single SU case and
OPS-MA is for multiple SUs case. In PS-MA, periodic sensing
with memoryless access, each primary channel is sensed equally
with 1 / N fraction of time. In IS-MA, index sensing with
memoryless access, the SU senses the first channel in the list. If
idle, the SU transmit, and then keeps sensing the first channel on
the list until the first busy sensing result, after which the SU
switches to the next channel in the list. In OPS-MA,
orthogonalized periodic sensing with memoryless access, it
implements PS-MA for each SU in an orthogonal manner. These
approaches can suggest the way of channel selection at the
beginning of slot with limitation which SU can observe channel
partially.

Since we consider the multiple SUs in N channels, we

implement the OPS-MA and modified version of IS-MA, i.e.
OIS-MA, and FO-OSA for upper bound in simulations.
3.4. Spectrum Sharing Model
Once a proper spectrum band is selected in spectrum decision,
communication channels in that spectrum need to be assigned to
a SU while determining its transmission power to avoid the
interference to the primary network (resource allocation). Then
the SU decides when the spectrum should be accessed to avoid
collisions with other SUs (spectrum access) [5]. In this paper,
we consider overlay networks which SU cannot access channel
in which primary transmission is in progress. So, just spectrum
access, i.e., CR MAC is considered for this framework.
Unlike classical MAC protocols in ad hoc networks, CR MAC
protocols are closely coupled with spectrum sensing. Generally,
CR MAC protocols are classified into three kinds of access
protocols: random access, time-slotted, and a hybrid protocol
that is a combination of the two [5]. As mentioned before, we
implement SU that follows a slotted transmission structure. So,
we consider the hybrid protocol which channels of primary
network are slotted, and SUs employ random access techniques
such as CSMA or ALOHA to minimize collisions.
4. OPNET Models for CR Networks
4.1. CR Network Model
The basic scenario for CR network is shown in Figure 4. Since
we do not consider multi-hop scenario directly related to
mobility and routing protocol, we construct the single-hop
network. This network consists of two nodes: CR_config and
CR_node. The CR_config plays a role in generation of primary
4
Figure 4: Network model (single-hop scenario)
4.2. CR_config Node Model
As we mentioned before, CR_config can generate the primary
transmission in N channels. We also can generate the primary
transmission with existing example network, such as WLAN,
WiMAX, or else in OPNET according to frequency range, and
SU can sense the channel status by use of op_stat_local_read ()
from statistic package, however it can be simulation overhead.
So, we use the continuous time markov chain (CTMC) ON/OFF
process to generate the primary transmission.
Assume that there are N parallel channels (indexed from 0 to
N 1 ) available for transmissions by the PUs [12]. The
occupancy of the N channels is modeled by N independent
CTMC. In particular, each channel has two sates with idle
( X i 0 ) and busy state ( X i 1 ), respectively. The holding
times are exponentially distributed with known parameters i 1
for the idle and i 1 for the busy states, respectively. The state
transition rate matrix ( Q -matrix) under the CTMC process is
given by
i
Qi i , i 0,1, ... , N 1 .
i
(1)
i
The stationary distribution of the i -th PU process can then be
determined as
 i i Radio Transmitter. The Radio Receiver acts as the entry points
vi (0) , vi (1) . (2) in a node for packets received on radio communication links,
i i i i and the Radio Transmitter acts as the exit points of a node for
packets transmitted on radio links. Each process model is
The cr_config process model for CR_config can be shown in connected by the stream and the stream can be added between
Figure 5. This process model consists of two states: Init and cr_mac and transceiver according to the maximum number of
Discard states. In the Discard state, no any code for this process channels.
model is existed, and it prohibits from unexpected interrupts
from any others. In the Init state, it registers own process and
sets necessary attributes, and calls functions necessary for
generation of primary traffic.

Figure 6: CR_node node model

As mentioned in Section 4.1, CR_node supports functions as
Figure 5: cr_config process model channel selection, spectrum sensing, and spectrum access.
The functions needed for generation of primary traffic are as
follows:

cr_cnf_pu_traffic_init () This function performs the

initialization necessary for generation of primary traffic. It reads
attributes (e.g. Start Time, ON State Time, and OFF Sate
Time) according to the number of channels, and stores its values.
We assume that one PU exists in each channel.

cr_cnf_pu_traffic_gen () This function performs the

generation of primary traffic based attributes stored by
cr_cnf_pu_traffic_init (). Every generation of primary traffic in
each channel occurs at the beginning of simulation time.
oms_dist_outcome () is used in generation of random value for
ON State Time and OFF State Time.

cr_cnf_pu_traffic_reg () This function performs the

registration of generated primary traffic. In order to sense this
primary transmission, the process registration is required to
identify by each node model or process model. For this,
oms_pr_process_register () and oms_pr_attr_set () are used.

Above three functions are executed sequentially, and each node

model or process model can access (sense) the primary
transmission.

4.3. CR_node Node Model

CR_node consists of source, sink, cr_mac, and transceiver
process models as shown in Figure 6. Just cr_mac process model
is modeled by us and others are created by existing process
models.

The source process model uses existing source model, called

bursty_source which can generate traffic as ON/OFF pattern
explained in Section 4.2. The sink process model uses existing
sink model, called sink which can receive packet and perform
updating local and global statistics, and destroy received packet.
In the case of transceiver, it consists of Radio Receiver and Figure 7: Simplified algorithm of CR_node functions
5
 Figure 8: cr_mac process model
Figure 7 shows the sequence of the CR_node from receiving
packet from higher layer to transmitting packet to lower layer.
When a packet is delivered from higher layer, the CR_node
checks whether the packet is larger than segment size or not. If
yes, the packet is assembled. In order to transmit the packet, the
CR_node needs to spectrum sensing. Firstly, the CR_node
selects the spectrum band by one of PS approaches, and senses
this spectrum band to check whether this spectrum band is idle
or not at the beginning of slot. After that, the CR_node can
enable or disable the back-off algorithm. If the CR_node does
not use the back-off algorithm, it just transmits the packet.
Otherwise it also can enable or disable the RTS/CTS exchange
to solve the hidden terminal problem. If the CR_node does not
use the RTS/CTS exchange, it just transmits the packet.
Otherwise, it transmits the RTS, and waits for the CTS. If the
CR_node receives the CTS, it transmits the packet. This is whole
sequence of the CR_node and it is repeated if the packet exists in
the queue.
As shown in Figure 8, the cr_mac process model consists of
various unforced and forced states, which is different in
execution-timing.
Considering relationship with other process model, the Init_#
states are three. In Init_1, it performs the initialization of state
variables, registration of own process model. In Init_2, it
performs the creation of nodes MAC address randomly or
manually, and registration of its address in the global address list.
In init_3, it performs the initialization of transceivers attributes
and taking destination MAC address manually or automatically
to transmit packet. It also interrupts the event of initial channel
sensing event.
6
OPNET Modeler defines thirteen event types to support variety
of modeling activities. Especially in Idle state, it can handle
three event types: Self, Stream, and Statistic. Type Self is for
the process that may have multiple events of this type pending at
the time, event code is usually of interest. Type Stream is for
when a packet arrives at a processor or queue, causing a stream
interrupt, the Simulation Kernel places the packet in the input
streams FIFO queue. Type Statistic is for when a change
occurs in a statistic that is the source of a statistic wire, this may
generate an event for the statistic wires destination processor /
queue, depending on the nature of the change and the
configuration of the statistic wire object. In this model,
Statistic type is used for the carrier sensing like in CSMA/CA.
For this, Idle state uses op_intrpt_type (), op_intrpt_strm (), and
op_intrpt_code ().
For the spectrum management functions, the forced states are
seven: CH_sense, From_HL, Deference, Xmit, From_LL, Timer,
and Back_off.
CH_sense This state plays role in channel selection and
identification of current channel state. As we mentioned before
SU with single radio can sense one channel at the beginning of
slot. So, channel index, which SU will sense, is determined in
this state by FO-OSA, OPS-MA, and modified version of IS-MA.
Just in case that channel is idle, its node can transmit packet.
From_HL This state plays role in handling packet from higher
layer. This process model has two buffers: subq and segbuf. If
segbuf is not empty, the packet is inserted in the subq, otherwise,
it is insert in segbuf. The packet will be transmitted if sensing
result is idle at the beginning of certain slot in specific channel.
Deference This state plays role in deference until the medium
is available for transmission interrupt. As mentioned before,
CR_node can access the channel with the random access
techniques. For this, it considers four kinds of packet: RTS, CTS,
DATA, and ACK. The RTS/CTS are for virtual carrier sensing
to solve the hidden terminal problem, and the DATA/ACK are
used in any random access techniques such as ALOHA and
CSMA. Each node can transmit these kinds of packet interrupted
by this state with some Inter-Frame Spaces, e.g. DIFS and SIFS.
Xmit This state plays role in handling events interrupted by
Deference state. It checks the frame type which will be
transmitted next, and makes the data header structure according
to the frame type. Generally, this data header consists of source
address, destination address, and frame type. If the frame type is
DATA, the packet from higher layer is encrypted in data field,
otherwise, this field is empty.
From_LL This state plays role in handling packet from lower
layer. When a node receives a packet from lowering, firstly it
decrypts the received packet and checks whether the destination
address is matched or not. If yes, secondly it checks frame type
to handle differently and handles the received packet according
to the concept of RTS/CTS/DATA/ACK handshaking. Just in
case that the frame type is the DATA, this state sends the packet
to the higher layer. According to the algorithm what we insert,
RTS/CTS handshaking can be enabled or disabled.
Timer This state plays role in timeout interrupt. The node
needs to wait for the expected frame. If expected frame is not
received, then the node infers collision. In this case, the frame
time-out procedure is necessary. This model uses next slot as the
expiry time to wait for the expected frame. Using this time, this
state interrupts event of next channel sensing to transmit existing
packet in the queue.
Back_off This state plays role in back-off procedure. It is
needed when the node preparing to transmit frame discovers that
the medium is busy or when the node infers collision. The back-
off is not needed when the node is responding to the frame.
Following a successful packet transmission, again a back-off
procedure is performed for a contention window period.
5. Performance Evaluation
In this section we show the simulation results to evaluate the
performance of the proposed framework by varying PS
approaches. The schemes are evaluated in terms of throughput.
We consider the cases involving single SU and multiple SUs
who learn transmission opportunities by sensing one channel at a
time.
To evaluate the SU utilization in single-hop topology, we use the
simple scenario as shown in Figure 4. We set the simulation
parameters as shown in Table 1. We use five data channel with
1Mbps data rate to evaluate the performance considering single
user and multiple users. We set the transmission range of each
SU as 250m, and for the single user access, i.e. K N , we set
the number of SUs as one and for the multiple user access, i.e.
K N , we set the number of SUs as five. We adopt three PS
approaches, FO-OSA, OPS-MA, and OIS-MA (PS-MA and IS-
7
MA for single user access), to compare with each other. To
evaluate the SU utilization or throughput according to PU
utilization, each SU can generate the Poisson traffic as much as
the data rate. For more accurate simulation, we set the
simulation time as 2 hours.
Number of Channels 5
Data Channel Rate 1 (Mbps)
Number of Secondary Users 1 (single) or 5 (multiple)
Transmission Range 250 (m)
Comparison Group FO-OSA, OPS-MA, OIS-MA
Traffic Generation Model Poisson
Simulation Time 7,200 (sec)
Table 1: Simulation parameters
5.1. Single User Access
We first consider the case involving a single user who learns
transmission opportunities by sensing one channel at a time. For
the performance upper bound, we consider a FO-OSA policy
and for the performance lower bound, we consider a PS-MA
policy. Figure 9 shows the maximum throughput of SU as PU
utilization increases. Since FO-OSA policy senses all channels
simultaneously at the beginning of every time slot, it shows
better performance than any other policies. Even though FO-
OSA is not optimal and cost-consuming, this scheme suggests
the upper bound of performance in terms of throughput. In the
case of PS-MA policy, since it senses the channels in an
increasing order and only depends on the current sensing
outcome, it shows lower performance than any other policies.
Lastly, the IS-MA policy is shown to be throughput optimal for
single user cognitive network.
Figure 9: SU throughput in single user access case
5.2. Multiple User Access
We also consider FO-OSA policy for performance upper bound
and OPS-MA policy for lower bound in multiple user access
case. Generally, this case shows lower performance than the case
of single user access because multiple users can get low
transmission opportunities and collision probabilities between
each SU increase. The FO-OSA policy also gives better
performance than any other policies, and the OPS-MA policy
gives lower performance than any others, although it select a
channel in orthogonal manner. OIS-MA, which is modified
version of IS-MA to select channel orthogonally, shows better
performance than OPS-MA in this scenario.
Figure 10: SU throughput in multiple user access case
6. Conclusion
The CR is regarded to significantly boost spectrum utilization by
exploiting spectrum bands unused by licensed users. So, we
introduced CR M&S framework to support development of new
technologies, Firstly, according to spectrum management
functions, we suggested the modeling direction for CR networks
together with system model. Secondly, with this modeling
direction, we modeled the network and node models for CR
networks by use of OPNET modeler. For the verification of this
framework, we evaluated the performance varying periodic
sensing policies. As a result, modified IS-MA policy, i.e., OIS-
MA, showed better performance than the OPS-MA policy. For
future work, we will upgrade the CR framework concerning
about spectrum mobility related to nodes mobility and routing
issues.
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by the MKE (The Ministry of
Knowledge Economy), Korea, under the ITRC (Information
Technology Research Center) support program supervised by the
NIPA (National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA-2012-
(H0301-12-2003)), and also supported by the network protocol
technology research for the next TMMR through the LIG Nex1
corporation (Y11-026).
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