A multi-threshold spectrum sensing algorithm based on the phototropism theory for cognitive radio

Cognitive radio (CR) is regarded as a key technology to solve the scarcity of spectrum resources and improve spectrum utilization. Spectrum sensing is one of the basic components of CR technology. Energy sensing, matched filtering sensing and cyclostationary sensing are three classical methods for spectrum sensing in CR networks, but all of them still have some defects. In this paper, phototropism in biology is introduced and “light source” model is established for spectrum sensing in CR networks, and a new spectrum sensing technology is researched based on the phototropism. After comparing the commonness and difference between plant growth and spectrum sensing process, a multi-threshold spectrum sensing algorithm based on the phototropism principle for cognitive radio is proposed. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can improve the performance of the spectrum sensing in CR networks, compared with three classical methods.