A cooperative spectrum sensing method for sensing under noise uncertainty and interference

Cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) achieves spatial diversity and is used to combat shadowing and fading in sensing. In reality, spectrum sensing in TV band may also face challenges caused by interference from secondary users (SU). Unfortunately, this issue has not yet been sufficiently discussed. In this work, we propose a CSS to mitigate impact of SU interference and maintain robust sensing. After discussing the reality that spectrum sensing in TV band could suffer SU interference, we describe a sensing scenario that truly exists. Under the scenario, sensing is conducted by IEEE 802.22 standard compliant devices for detecting TV signal in an area with some other heterogeneous SU networks, such as IEEE 802.11af network, operating in nearby. The proposed CSS is conducted by selected sensors and detects instant power change between two consecutive sensing durations. Computer simulation is conducted to verify novelty of the proposed CSS in mitigating impact of noise uncertainty and SU interference.