International Journal of Electronics and Computer Science Engineering 1555

Available Online at www.ijecse.org ISSN- 2277-1956

Building Cognitive Radio System Using Matlab

Anurag Bansal 1 , Ms. Rita Mahajan 2
12
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
1
PG Student, PEC University of Technology, India
2
Assistant Professor, PEC University of Technology, India
1
Email- anurag.pecchd@yahoo.in

Abstract- Cognitive radio is an emerging and fascinating technology for the opportunistic use of under-utilized spectrum that
promises to change the future technological trends forever if employed properly. This work focuses on the practical
implementation of a cognitive radio network.

Keywords Cognitive radio, Energy detection.

I. INTRODUCTION
The electromagnetic radio spectrum is a licensed resource which is carefully managed by governments to ensure secure
and reliable wireless communication. Today the radio spectrum is managed in a way that a wireless service provider buys
the license for one or more spectrum bands and only its users, termed as legacy or primary users(PUs) are allowed to
access these bands and operate there. Due to consumers increasing interest in wireless services, demand for radio
spectrum has increased dramatically. This leads to the scarcity of available spectrum and inefficient channel utilization [1].
To solve this problem, the concept of cognitive radio has come to the fore.
A. Cognitive Radio
A radio that employs model based reasoning to achieve a specified level of the competence in radio-related domains is
called cognitive radio [2]. Basic cognitive cycle is shown in the Fig.1.
The cognitive radio first gathers information about its external environment (outside world) through direct observation or
signaling and then the received information is evaluated (orient) to know its significance. Based on the evaluation, cognitive
radio determines its alternatives (Plan) and chooses an alternative (Decide) so as to improve the valuation. Assuming a
waveform was necessary, the radio then implements the alternative (Act) by adjusting its resources appropriately.
These changes are reflected in the interference profile presented by the cognitive radio in the outside world. As part of
this process, the radio uses these observations and decisions to improve the operation of the radio (Learn) by creating new
modeling states, generating new alternatives or creating new valuations [3].
The two important characteristics of cognitive radio are:-
a) Cognitive capability- Cognitive capability refers to the ability of the cognitive radio technology to capture or sense
the information from its radio environment.
b) Reconfigurability- Reconfigurability enables the cognitive radio to be programmed dynamically according to the
radio environment [4].

Fig.1Basic Cognitive Cycle [5]

Cognitive radio mainly does four functions.:-
i. It continuously looks for the unused spectrum which is known as the spectrum hole or white space as is shown in
the Fig.2. This property of cognitive radio is termed as spectrum sensing.

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ii. Once the spectrum holes or white spaces are found, cognitive radio selects the available white space or channel.
This property of cognitive radio is termed as spectrum management.
iii. It allocates this channel to the secondary (cognitive) user as long as primary user does not need it. This property of
cognitive radio is termed as spectrum sharing.
iv. Cognitive radio vacates the channel when a licensed user is detected. This property of cognitive radio is termed as
the spectrum mobility.

Fig.2 Spectrum hole concept [4]

This paper presents the building of cognitive radio network with all the above mentioned capabilities using MATLAB.
II. SPECTRUM SENSING TECHNIQUES
There are various spectrum sensing techniques which are employed for spectrum sensing such as:-
1) Energy Detection.
2) Matched Filter Detection.
3) Waveform-Based Detection.
4) Cyclostationary Feature Detection.
5) Cooperative Detection.
All these methods are good and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. The method used in this paper is energy
detection method because of its simplicity and ability with which it can be applied in almost all the cases. Moreover, it has
low computational and implementation complexities and optimal under no knowledge of primary signal. We have used
energy detection method for building the cognitive radio network.
A. Energy Detection
Energy detector based approach is the most common way of spectrum sensing because of its low computational and
implementation complexities. When the primary user signal is unknown or the reciever cannot gather sufficient
information about the primary user signal, the energy detection method is used.
About the primary user signal, the energy detection method is used. This method is optimal for detecting any unknown
zero-mean constellation signals and can be applied to cognitive radios (CRs) [6].
The decision metric for the energy detector can be written as:-
M=
The received signal is squared and integrated over the observation interval. Then the output of the integrator is compared
to a threshold to decide whether the primary user is present or not. The following decision is made:-

x(t) = (1)

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Digital implementations offer more flexibility by using FFT-based spectral estimates. Fig.3 shows the architecture for
digital implementation of an energy detector.

Fig.3 Digital Implementation of an energy detector

III. SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
Spectrum management assigns the available spectrum holes among the cognitive radios and is one of the main challenges
in cognitive radio [7]. In cognitive radio networks, the unused spectrum bands will be spread over wide frequency range.
These unused spectrum bands detected through spectrum sensing show different characteristics according to the time
varying radio environment and the spectrum band information such as the operating frequency and bandwidth.
So, now the cognitive radio networks should select the available unused spectrum bands and assign them to the
secondary users. The selection of unused spectrum bands by cognitive radio network is known as spectrum management.
IV. SPECTRUM SHARING
In cognitive radio networks, one of the main challenges in open spectrum usage is the spectrum sharing. Once the unused
spectrum band is selected by cognitive radio network, it is assigned to the secondary user, this process is known as spectrum
sharing.
V. SPECTRUM MOBILITY
Cognitive radio networks target to use the spectrum in a dynamic manner. In cognitive radio networks, the spectrum
mobility arises when a primary user appears in the channel. Then, cognitive radio looks for the other unused spectrum hole
and assigns it to the secondary user. Spectrum mobility gives rise to a new type of handoff in cognitive radio networks that
we refer to as spectrum handoff.
VI. SIMULATION RESULTS
This paper presents the cognitive radio network using MATLAB (R2009a) v.7.8.0.
We have used the digital implementation of energy detector using FFT. It is assumed that there are 5 primary users in the
spectrum. The cognitive radio network continuously looks for the spectrum hole where primary user is not present which is
determined by the energy detection method and as soon as it finds out the spectrum hole, it allots it immediately to the
secondary user and whenever primary user wants to occupy the slot, secondary user immediately vacates it.
The carrier frequencies used for 5 signals are 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 3000 Hz, 4000 Hz, 5000 Hz and sampling frequency is
12000 Hz. Power spectrum density of signal is calculated and it is compared with the threshold value to determine the
presence of primary signal.
Here, we have assumed that 1st, 3rd, 5th primary users are present and 2nd, 4th primary users are not. Further 5th primary
user leaves the slot. Here, Signal to noise ratio (SNR) is taken as -5dB. Then, the following results are obtained which are
shown in the Fig.4)a), Fig.4)b), Fig.4)c), Fig.4)d) and Fig.4)e).

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Anurag Bansal and Ms. Rita Mahajan

Fig.4)a) Fig.4)b)

Fig.4)c) Fig.4)d)

Fig.4)e)

Fig.4 Power Spectral Density

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Here, low peaks in Fig.4)a) are for 2nd and 4th primary users who are not present and high peaks for the present ones. In
Fig.4)b), you can see that after allocating the 2nd slot to secondary user, there is an increase in the peak of 2nd slot. Similarly
in Fig.4)c), there is an increase in the peak of 4th slot allocating it to the secondary user. Now at this instant 5th primary user
leaves the slot. So, Fig.4)d) shows the power density spectrum after this process. Finally, Fig.4)e) shows the allotment of 5th
slot to secondary user by the cognitive radio network.
Again the above assumptions are repeated for SNR=5dB and SNR=14dB, same results are obtained which are shown in
the figures above.
Now, taking all the previous assumptions, now SNR is taken as -14 dB. In this case, the results are shown in the Fig.5)a),
Fig.5)b), Fig.5)c), Fig.5)d).

Fig.5)a) Fig.5)b)

Fig.5)c) Fig.5)d)

Fig.5 Power Spectral Density

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As, it is clear from above figures that for SNR = -14 dB, the cognitive radio network does not recognize that primary
user2 is not present, instead it shows that primary user2 is present. Hence, the probability of false alarm (Pfa) for it is 0.2 and
probability of detection (Pd) is 0.8.
The results are tabulated in the TABLE 1 below:
TABLE I.

SNR
Pfa Pd
(dB)

5 0 1

14 0 1

-5 0 1

-14 0.2 0.8

VII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

In this paper, firstly, we presented the spectrum sensing method used i.e. energy detection. Using that, we build up the
cognitive radio system in MATLAB (R2009a) v.7.8.0. This development opens the door for building up of cognitive radio
system using more advanced spectrum sensing methods like cooperative spectrum sensing and eigenvalues detection with
energy detection as their basis.
References
[1] F. Khozeimeh and S. Haykin, Self-organizing dynamic spectrum management for cognitive radio networks, 8th Annual Communication Networks
and Services Research Conference,pp. 1-8, 2010.
[2] J. Mitola, III, Cognitive Radio for Flexible Multimedia Communications, Mobile Multimedia Communications, 1999(MoMuC99) 1999 IEEE
International Workshop on, pp. 3-10, 1999.
[3] James ODaniell Neel, Analysis and Design of Cognitive Radio Networks and Distributed Radio Resource Management Algorithms, PhD
Dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 2006.
[4] Ian F. Akyildiz, Won-Yeol Lee, Mehmet C. Vuran and Shantidev Mohanty, A Survey on Spectrum Management in Cognitive Radio Networks, in
IEEE Communications Magazine, pp. 40-48,2008.
[5] J. Mitola III, Cognitive Radio: An Integrated Agent Architecture for Software Defined Radio, PhD Dissertation Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm, Sweden, May, 2000.
[6] Kwang-Cheng Chen and Ramjee Prasad, Cognitive Radio Networks, 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-69689-7.
[7] S.haykin, Cognitive radio: Brain-empowered wireless communications, IEEE J. Select. Areas Commun. Vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 201-220, Feb, 2005.

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