Temporal Spectrum Sensing in Packet-Based Network Using Double Thresholds

Traditional cognitive radio protocols rely on identifying intervals of time when a channel is available to secondary users. To date, the detection of such opportunities has relied on single threshold based binary hypothesis testing schemes. In this paper, we describe the shortcomings of traditional single threshold transmit opportunity methods. We then propose a hysteresis based detection scheme that uses two different thresholds for detecting that a channel that was unavailable has become available or that an available channel is no longer available. We provide numerical simulation and experimental results to show that the proposed double threshold approach reduces interference to the primary network and enhances the throughput of the secondary network.