A Covariance Matrix-based Spectrum Sensing Technology Exploiting Stochastic Resonance and Filters

Abstract

Cognitive radio (CR) is a dynamic spectrum sharing technology designed to reduce the negative effect of spectrum scarcity caused by the exponential increase in the number of wireless devices. CR requires that spectrum sensing should detect licenced signals quickly and accurately and enable coexistence between primary and secondary users without interference. However, spectrum sensing with a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is still a challenge in CR systems. This paper proposes a novel covariance matrix-based spectrum sensing method by using stochastic resonance (SR) and filters. SR is implemented to enforce the detection signal of multiple antennas in low SNR conditions. The filters are equipped in the receiver to reduce the interference segment of noise frequency. Then, two test statistics computed by the likelihood ratio test (LRT) or the maximum eigenvalues detector (MED) are constructed by the sample covariance matrix of the processed signals. The simulation results exhibit the spectrum sensing performance of the proposed algorithms under various channel conditions, namely, additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and Rayleigh fading channels. The energy detector (ED) is also compared with LRT and MED. The simulation results demonstrate that SR and filter implementation can achieve a considerable improvement in spectrum sensing performance under a strong noise background.