A novel handover protocol to prevent hidden node problem in satellite assisted cognitive radio networks

The rapid growth in wireless technologies has intensified the demand for the radio spectrum. On the other hand, the research studies reveal that the spectrum utilization is unevenly distributed, which leads to the conclusion that there is a problem with the spectrum management and allocation rather than the scarcity of the spectrum itself. This inefficiency in spectrum usage in addition to the escalating demand for the radio spectrum fostered the research studies that focus on new communication paradigms referred to as dynamic spectrum access (DSA) and cognitive radio networks, which are based on opportunistically utilizing the radio spectrum. IEEE 802.22 is the first standard for cognitive radio networks, in which, however, network entry and initialization, as well as the hidden incumbent problem have not yet completely been addressed. On the other hand, mobility is also an unexplored issue in cognitive radio networks. In this paper, we propose a novel protocol that combats the hidden incumbent problem during network entry, initialization and handover, while at the same time taking the mobility pattern of the cognitive devices into consideration. Our proposed scheme is based on a satellite assisted cognitive radio architecture. Our model outperforms the current IEEE 802.22 scheme and other work in the literature in terms of connection setup delay.