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Cognitive radio: survey on communication protocols, spectrum decision issues, and future research directions

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Abstract

Currently, the radio spectrum is statically allocated and divided between licensed and unlicensed frequencies. Due to this inflexible policy, some frequency bands are growing in scarcity, while large portions of the entire radio spectrum remain unused independently of time and location. Cognitive Radio is a recent network paradigm that aims a more flexible and efficient usage of the radio spectrum. Basically, it allows wireless devices to opportunistically access portions of the entire radio spectrum without causing any harmful interference to licensed users. The present document surveys the literature on Cognitive Radio. It aims to provide a comprehensive and self-contained description of this research topic area, mainly focusing on communication protocols, spectrum decision issues, and future research directions. It is a tutorial in nature and consequently does not require any previous knowledge about Cognitive Radio. Readers are only required to have some general background on wireless data networks. Emphasis is put on Cognitive Radio genesis, issues that must be addressed, related technologies, standardization efforts, the state of the art, and future research directions according to the vision of the authors.

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Notes

  1. DCF (Distributed Coordination Function), which is based on the CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) algorithm, is one of the basic access protocols supported by the IEEE 802.11 standard. It is one of the today's main protocols for wireless local area networks.

  2. In geographic routing, a node knows the location of the destination and that of the candidate forwarding nodes within its range, and therefore can choose the next hop that is closer towards the destination.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions which have significantly contributed to improve this paper. The first author is also grateful to the support which was provided in the context of PROTEC, a Portuguese PhD supporting program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISEC—Engineering Institute of Coimbra, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    José Marinho

  2. CISUC—Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    José Marinho

  3. DEI-UC—Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Edmundo Monteiro

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Correspondence to José Marinho.

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Marinho, J., Monteiro, E. Cognitive radio: survey on communication protocols, spectrum decision issues, and future research directions. Wireless Netw 18, 147–164 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-011-0392-1

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