Optimization of BER in Cognitive

Radio Networks Using FHSS and

Energy-efficient OBRMB
Spectrum Sensing

SIMARPREET SINGH
M.E. (IT) 2013-15
ROLL NO. 13-621
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
Ms. INDERDEEP KAUR AULAKH
COORDINATOR & ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (IT)
UIET, PANJAB UNIVERSITY

Layout
Introduction
Literature Review
Research Gaps
Proposed System
Parameters & Results
Conclusion & Future Scope
Publications
References

Introduction
RF Spectrum
Cognitive Radio
Spectrum Sensing
Spectrum Sensing Updates
DSSS and FHSS
Integrating Spectrum Sensing and Signal Modulation

Radio Frequency(RF) Spectrum

Part of EM spectrum for radio wave propagation (3Hz-

3000GHz).
Frequencies are licensed by regulatory authorities.
Exponential growth in wireless communications, allocation
and management has become a critical issue.
About 15-85% of spectrum is underutilized at a particular
instance (FCC).
Limited resource, efficient utilization is a key for future
wireless communications.
Cognitive radio is an intelligent wireless technology to
address the problem of under-utilization of spectrum
resources.

Cognitive Radio
Joseph Mitola (1998).
Capable of some intellectual features such as thinking,

learning, understanding, perceiving, reasoning,

remembering etc.
Dynamically changes its features by sensing its RF
environment.
Spectrum holes: unused portions of spectrum.
Primary user: a licensed user allocated a set of
frequencies.
Cognitive user: does not have a license, but uses
spectrum holes.

A cyclic process

SPECTRUM
SENSING

SPECTRUM
MOBILITY

RADIO
ENVIRONMENT

SPECTRUM
SHARING

SPECTRUM
MGMT.

Spectrum sensing:
process of detecting spectrum holes by determining
the presence or absence of primary user.
Spectrum management :
process of selecting the best available channel by
analyzing the channels.
Spectrum sharing :
deals with the minimization of interference among
cognitive radio users.
Spectrum mobility :
cognitive radio user evacuates the spectrum and starts
sensing again.

Spectrum Sensing
Ability to measure availability of spectrum by transmit power,

interference and noise.

Energy detection, matched filter detection, cyclostationary
feature detection etc.
Cooperative:
Based on cooperative communication among cognitive radios.
Each user sends detection results to other users.
Helps improve detection results.
Non Cooperative: Individual detections and independent
decisions.

Spectrum Sensing Updates

To begin and end spectrum sensing.
One node generates request, the other performs sensing

and sends back results.

A pair of request-reply (either one-bit or two-bit reply)
is required.
Sensing Request

Spectru
m
Sensing
Query

Response
Sensing Request
Response
Sensing Request
Response

Spectru
m
Sensing
Reply

Spread Spectrum Modulation

To make radio communications more secure,

initially for military use.

Spreading the original message over a wider
bandwidth such that it is not in a continuous
readable form.
Appears as wideband noise signal to an interceptor.
Two techniques:

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum

Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum

DSSS
Original message is spread using a chipping code

over a carrier frequency in a sequential order

Message is partitioned and spread in a sequence
over a wider bandwidth.
Spread signal is then transmitted over the channel
Receiver uses the same chipping code and extract
the original message.

FHSS
Original message is partitioned into pieces and spread

USER 2

Frequen
cy

Frequen
cy

over a larger bandwidth using a pseudorandom sequence.

PN sequence exchanged between the sender and receiver.

USER 1
Time

Time

Signal Modulation and Cognition

Concatenation of cognitive process with

DSSS/FHSS.
Sender and receiver become cognitive users which
have an additional sensor.
Responsible for gaining information from the RF
surroundings by spectrum sensing.
Sensing results are relayed back to the device which
adapts accordingly.

Literature Review
Spectrum Sensing
N. Zhao, R.Y. Fei, S. Hongjian and A. Nallanathan, "Energy-efficient
cooperative spectrum sensing schemes for cognitive radio
networks." EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking,
Vol. 120, no. 1, pp. 1-13, 2013.
Authors have proposed two energy-efficient and time-saving one-bit
cooperative spectrum sensing schemes, which have two stages in the spectrum
sensing process. They have worked to eliminate or minimize the data drop by
proposing new technique based on sensing. They have added one-bit decision,
which is sent by each cognitive user to minimize the overhead cost. The second
proposed algorithm makes use of the complete local decisions of the coarse
detection, and also its energy consumption is further reduced with its sensing
performance close to the first algorithm. Simulations are performed, and the
results show that the sensing time and energy consumption are both
significantly reduced in the proposed schemes.

I.F. Akyildiz, B.F. Lo, R. Balakrishnan, Cooperative spectrum

sensing in cognitive radio networks: A survey, Elsevier,

Physical Communication, Vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 40-62, 2011.
Authors have surveyed various spectrum sensing techniques such
as energy detection, match filter detection, cyclostationary feature
detection etc. Extensive research has been done on cooperative
spectrum sensing to decode its fundamental elements and
investigate in detail how each element plays an important role in
cooperative sensing. Furthermore, a number of communication
overheads such as sensing time and delay, energy-efficiency,
mobility, security, wideband sensing etc. have been discussed which
hinder the achievable cooperative gain. Also, future research
challenges for possible areas of improvement have been presented.

BER Analysis with FHSS signals

R. D. Raut, K. D. Kulat, BER performance maintenance at high

data rates in cognitive radio, in 20th International Conference on
Electronics, Communications and Computer, IEEE, pp. 62-67, 2010.
Authors have worked on FHSS to maintain BER performance and
increase actual data rate instead of improving BER and maintaining the
original data rate. They have proposed an adaptive system in which data is
sent with higher accuracy with increase in bandwidth in contrast to nonadaptive systems in which BER also increases with increase in bandwidth.
This is done by making the algorithm more efficient by the use of
additional bits and additional sequential and combinational logics. This
results in increase in computational time but drastically reduces the BER.
Results show that by increasing the bits per frame from 5 to 15, there is a
reduction of 42.5% in BER.

Research Gaps
DSSS divides the available spectrum into parts, for

example, in conventional radio systems, 83.5 MHz

band is divided into 3 channels of 22 MHz each.
When data is transmitted on such a channel, there is
a higher probability of adverse effects of interference
on it.
Existing algorithms use a pair of bit-request and bitreply for updates. As spectrum sensing is a
continuous process, multiple bit-requests are
required which increases overhead.

Proposed System
The proposed FHSS-CR model performs integration

of Spectrum sensing mechanism using an updated

OBRMB model with FHSS modulation.
It consists of 3 segments:

OBRMB sensing updates

Spectrum sensing module
Transmission module

One-Bit Returns Multiple-Bits (OBRMB)

Node does not have to send a request to check the

availability of the link.

Timers are used to achieve periodicity in spectrum sensing.
Depends on the number of iterations (pre-specified) for
which the cycle needs to be repeated.
Sensing Request (4)
Response (1)

Spectrum
Sensing
Query

Response (2)
Response (3)
Response (4)
Sensing Request (4)

Spectrum
Sensing
Reply

Spectrum Sensing Module

Initial setup

Connection setup request from sender

Connection setup acknowledgment from receiver

Authentication:

Pre-shared key matching

Key Generation

Random seed value and Compute key:

Key= sin(seed) x cos(seed) x log(seed)
Share seed with receiver.

Spectrum Sensing

For FHSS-CR, timer starts.

Receiver generate Key from seed.
Sensing for available frequencies.

Key Verification

If key matches, frequency is available; else not available.

Frequency Set

Transmission Module
Data Generation

Random data as input from source.

Spreader (DS/FH)

Spreading and sequencing based on modulation.

AWGN Channel

Transmission on the frequency set over AWGN.

De-spreader (DS/FH)

Reverse process to retrieve data.

Analysis

Calculation of results based on selected parameters.

Data Generation
Spread Data
Connection Setup
Authentication
Key Based Spectrum Sensing
Frequency Set
Transmission over AWGN
De-Spread Data
Original Data

Results and Analysis

Four Models:

DSSS
DSSS-CR
FHSS
FHSS-CR (with OBRMB)

Parameters:

BER
Probability of detection and false alarm
Overheads
Energy comparison

Bit-error rate
Ratio of number of erroneous bits received to the

total number of transmitted bits.

BER= (No. of Error Bits) / (Total bits number of bits
transferred)
biterr function in MATLAB.
Compares the data bits with the received bits
element-by-element to detect the number of bits that
differ.
BER calculated for SNR 1 to 18dB.

BIT ERROR RATE (BER)

SNR
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
AVERAGE
TOTAL

DSSS
0.03267
0.02467
0.01967
0.01700
0.01300
0.01300
0.01133
0.00933
0.00467
0.00733
0.00567
0.00567
0.00333
0.00367
0.00467
0.00167
0.00233
0.00233
0.01011
0.18200

DSSS-OB
0.00467
0.00567
0.00300
0.00333
0.00767
0.00300
0.00200
0.00167
0.00233
0.00267
0.00100
0.00233
0.00100
0.00100
0.00100
0.00133
0.00067
0.00100
0.00252
0.04533

FHSS
0.01429
0.01429
0.01111
0.00317
0.00952
0.00476
0.00476
0.00159
0.00087
0.00055
0.00038
0.00064
0.00035
0.00072
0.00092
0.00054
0.00008
0.00089
0.00386
0.06942

FHSS-OB
0.00635
0.00159
0.00012
0.00020
0.00071
0.00027
0.00058
0.00081
0.00023
0.00003
0.00067
0.00017
0.00079
0.00097
0.00089
0.00021
0.00029
0.00083
0.00087
0.01571

Probability of detection and false alarm

Probability of Detection:

likelihood of presence of the actual primary users signal

in a sample.

Probability of False alarm:

likelihood of primary users signal being wrongfully

detected when it is not actually present.

Overhead
Number of bits required to carry out data

transmission.
Bits to setup connection, maintain and correctly
send and receive data between two nodes.
DSSS-CR: overhead=3
FHSS-CR: overhead=5
Spectrum sensing:

For each sensing request: overhead=overhead+1

For each sensing response: overhead=overhead+1

Energy Comparison
Initially, total energy of the system = 100%
Calculated for DSSS-CR and FHSS-CR sensing

modules.
For both models, 1% of energy is consumed when
one message (either a request or a response)
transmitted between two ends;
energy = (energy-1) %

Conclusion
Lower data drop rate achieved using FHSS.
Drop of approximately 23% in overhead cost.
Reduction in energy consumption.

Future Scope:
No improvement in BER above 12dB.
Combination of OBRMB with more recognized
sensing techniques.

Publications
1. Inderdeep Kaur Aulakh, Simarpreet Singh, Renu Vig, Spectrum Sensing

Techniques in CRNs: A Review, in Procs. of International Conference on

Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (ICRITO) (Trends and
Future Directions), Amity University, IEEE, pp. 188-193, October 2014.
2. Simarpreet Singh, Inderdeep Kaur Aulakh, BER Performance Analysis of
Frequency-Hopping and Direct-Sequencing Spread Spectrum for Cognitive
Radio Networks, International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends
in Computing and Communication (IJRITCC), Vol. 3, Issue 5, pp. 31753178, May 2015.
3. Simarpreet Singh, Inderdeep Kaur Aulakh, Renu Vig, Optimization of
BER in Cognitive Radio Networks Using FHSS and Energy-efficient
OBRMB Spectrum Sensing, International Journal of Communication
Systems (Wiley), 2015. (Under-review)

References
N. Zhao, F. R. Yu, H. Sun, and A. Nallanathan, Energy-efficient cooperative

spectrum sensing schemes for cognitive radio networks, EURASIP Journal on

Wireless Comm. and Networking, 2013.
E. Rebeiz, F. Yuan, P. Urriza, D. Markovic, D. Cabric, Energy-Efficient
Processor for Blind Signal Classification in Cognitive Radio, IEEE, 2014.
N. Zhao, A novel two-stage entropy-based robust cooperative spectrum sensing
scheme with two-bit decision in cognitive radio, Wireless Pers. Comm., 2013.
R. Umar and A. Sheikh, "A comparative study of spectrum awareness techniques
for cognitive radio oriented wireless networks", Phy Comm, Vol. 9, pp. 148-170,
2013.
W. Ren, Q. Zhao, and A. Swami, "Temporal traffic dynamics improve the
connectivity of ad hoc cognitive radio networks", IEEE/ACM Transactions on
Networking, Vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 124-136, 2014.
I. K. Aulakh and R. Vig, Optimization of Secondary User Access in Cognitive
Radio Networks, in Proceedings of IEEE RAECS, 2014, Chandigarh, India,
March, 2014.

 I. K. Aulakh and R. Vig, Optimization of SUs Probability of False Alarm for Dynamic

Spectrum Access in Cognitive Radio, in Proceedings of IEEE 8th INDIACom, 2014, New
Delhi, India, pp. 814-819, March, 2014.
G. Ganesan, Y. Li, Cooperative spectrum sensing in cognitive radio Networks,
Proceedings of the International Symposium on New Frontiers in Dynamic Spectrum
Access Networks, 2012.
I.F. Akyildiz, B.F. Lo, R. Balakrishnan, Cooperative spectrum sensing in cognitive radio
networks: A survey, Elsevier, Physical Communication, Vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 40-62, 2011.
D. Incebacak, R. Zilan, B. Tavli, J.M. Barcelo-Ordinas, and J. Garcia-Vidal, "Optimal data
compression for lifetime maximization in wireless sensor networks operating in stealth
mode", Ad Hoc Networks, Vol. 24, pp. 134-147, 2014.
L.U. RuiMin, Y.E. GanHua, M.A. JinLing, L.I. YongChao, H.Wei, A Numerical comparison
between FHSS and DSSS in satellite communication systems with on-board processing, in
2nd International Congress on Image and Signal Processing, pp. 1-4, 2009.
J. Li, J. Zhang, Z. Tan, Bit error rate of the primary user in a cognitive relay network over
rayleigh-fading channels, in 5th International Conference on Wireless Communications,
Networking and Mobile Computing, IEEE, pp. 1-4, 2009.
R. D. Raut, K. D. Kulat, BER performance maintenance at high data rates in cognitive
radio, in 20th International Conference on Electronics, Communications and Computer,
IEEE, pp. 62-67, 2010.
S. Maleki, A. Pandharipande, G. Leus, Two-stage spectrum sensing for cognitive radios,
Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, Signal and
Processing, 2010.

Thank You!