Smart antennas aided wideband detection for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks

A smart antennas assisted wideband spectrum sensing algorithm for cognitive radios is presented. The proposed method operates simultaneously over the total wideband channels rather than one single channel each time. In this approach, the wideband spectrum sensing issue is transformed into estimating the number of occupied channels based on the Hannan-Quinn criterion, and then determining the occupancy status for each channel by the sample power. Neither noise power estimation nor prior knowledge of the primary user signal is required, making the proposed algorithm robust to noise uncertainty and suitable for blind detection. Simulations are presented to validate the benefits of this approach and the results show that this scheme is superior to the existing sensing algorithms.