Cooperative sensing for dynamic spectrum access in Cognitive Wireless Mesh Networks

In recent years, Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) considered as a practical solution for last-mile broadband wireless internet access. In this mode of wireless ad hoc networks, nodes may play the role of APs or Mesh Routers (MRs) to offer a short way to packets to find their destinations. However, as each node in WMNs has to transmit extra relayed traffic as well as its own; the capacity of such networks is limited by traffic congestion. To alleviate such a problem, Cognitive Radio (CR) technology can be used in which mesh nodes are allowed to use the available frequency bands that are not utilized by any licensed user. However, using this technology will impose several challenges influence the performance of the network. Interference between simultaneous transmissions, fading and environmental noise are the most important challenges that have been discussed widely in the research field. In this paper, we present a cooperative sensing scheme with interference mitigation for WMNs. In particular, we investigate the impact of false-alarm and missed-detection probabilities on the MAC layer performance. We propose a sensing strategy in which the MRs (unlicensed users) can use the available licensed spectrum without causing harmful interference with the licensed users. The simulation results have shown that the proposed scheme can improve the throughput of CR mesh networks.