Multi-peaks accumulation based spectrum sensing over multipath channel

Spectrum sensing is one of key technologies in cognitive radio to obtain radio environment knowledge. However, the regular correlator detector suffers from the inference of multipath fading channel on the primary signal. In this paper we propose a theoretically simple, yet effective and implementation-friendly spectrum sensing scheme called multi-peak values (MPV) detector. Based on the criterion of deflection coefficient maximization, the optimal number of peak value accumulation can be specified for different multipath channel scenarios. With theoretical analyses and simulation results we show that the MPV detector outperforms the correlator detector under multipath channels with non line of sight (NLOS). When applying the OR-rule fusion in the decision block, the MPV detector is capable of reliable spectrum sensing for different multipath scenarios.