Cognitive Radio Based MAC Protocols for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

The performance of wireless ad hoc networks is mostly be limited by the traffic congestion. To alleviate such a problem, Cognitive Radio (CR) technology can be used. The contribution of this paper is to investigate a CR-based Medium Access Control (MAC) layer for wireless ad hoc networks. We aim to focus on a Cognitive MAC protocols for a no licensed user which can be enabled to access the large amount spectrum unused by a licensed user in an intelligent way without causing any harmful interference with the licensed one. Our main goal is to study a cognitive MAC protocols which sense the radio spectrum, detect the occupancy state of different primary channels, and then opportunistically communicate over unused channels (spectrum holes).