Control channel based MAC-layer configuration, routing and situation awareness for cognitive radio networks

In a cognitive radio (CR) network, MAC-layer configuration involves determining a common set of channels to facilitate communication among participating nodes. Further, the availability of multiple channels and frequent channel switches add to the complexity of route selection. Knowledge of the global network topology can be used to solve the above-described problems. In this paper, we propose a distributed algorithm for gathering global network topology information for a CR network. We outline approaches that utilize the gathered topology information for MAC-layer configuration and efficient routing of packets. In addition, situation awareness is achieved by sharing the physical location information among the nodes in the network. The proposed algorithm determines the global network topology in O(N² ) timeslots, where N is the maximum number of nodes deployed. With 80 available channels for communication, the algorithm terminates within 0.8 second