F-2-MAC: an efficient channel sensing and access mechanism for cognitive radio networks

Abstract

One of the most challenging issues in cognitive radio (CR) systems is channel sensing and accessing. In this paper, a CR channel access mechanism is proposed. The mechanism consists of two phases: fast channel accessing and proactive channel vacating. In fast channel accessing, a pair of CR users time-efficiently searches an available channel to deliver data. In proactive channel vacating, a pair of CR users periodically makes channel access opportunities to primary users (PUs) and vacates the occupied channel as quick as possible. We utilize the concept of channel hopping to reduce the average channel searching time. Furthermore, our vacating mechanism allows CR users to create opportunities for PUs to claim the spectrum and thus minimize the caused interference to PUs. We evaluate the performance of our approach through a two-dimensional Markov chain model as well as simulations. The performance study indicates that the proposed protocol achieves low channel searching time, high throughput, and fairness.