Continuous Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks

In cognitive radio (CR) systems, secondary users (SUs) have to detect channel periodically during their data transmission to decide whether the channel is idle in order to avoid unacceptable interferences to primary users (Pus). With the traditional spectrum sensing method, all secondary users must carry out the detection process on the spectrum band before data transmission. The longer the detection time, the lower the channel efficiency is. In this paper, we explore the issue on detection method selection that aims at improving the channel efficiency. We propose a continuous spectrum sensing method with which the secondary users can detect the spectrum even if they are transmitting data to each other. This method not only improves the channel efficiency, but also senses the primary signal quickly.