Secondary user energy consumption in cognitive radio networks

In a cognitive radio network, secondary unlicensed users are opportunistically allowed to utilize licensed spectrum band when the primary user or licensed user is not present in the cognitive radio environment. Energy is consumed by these secondary users in utilizing the licensed spectrum band before giving up access to the primary user. In this paper, we study the total amount of energy consumed by these secondary users in a cognitive radio network. The energy consumption in each state of the secondary user´s activity is analyzed and presented. The results reveal the total energy consumed at each stage of activity of the secondary users in the network and also the implication of increasing the secondary network size.