Common channel initialization protocol in cognitive radio ad-hoc networks

Due to the increasing demand for spectrum resources, cognitive radio network and dynamic spectrum access get a lot of attention for efficiently utilizing the limited spectrum resources. To set up cluster-based CR ad-hoc common channels, conventional methods require relatively long time to successfully exchange the initialization messages. In this paper, we propose a fast and reliable common channel initialization protocol for CR ad-hoc networks. In the proposed method, cluster head sequentially broadcasts a system activation signal through its available channels with a predetermined correlation pattern. To detect the cluster head´s broadcasting channels and to join the cluster, each member node takes FFT and computes autocorrelation of FFT bin sequence for each available channel of the member node. The join request and channel decision procedure are also presented in this paper. In the simulation study, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated.