Index Terms

Cognitive radio promises a low cost, highly flexible alternative to the classic single frequency band, single protocol wireless device. By sensing and adapting to its environment, such a device is able to fill voids in the wireless spectrum and dramatically increase spectral efficiency. In this paper, the cognitive radio channel is defined as an n-transmitter, m-receiver interference channel in which sender i obtains the messages senders 1 through i 1 plan to transmit. The two sender, two receiver case is considered. In this scenario, one user, a cognitive radio, obtains (genie assisted, or causally) knowledge of the data to be transmitted by the other user. The cognitive radio may then simultaneously transmit over the same channel, as opposed to waiting for an idle channel as in a traditional cognitive radio channel protocol. Dirty-paper coding and ideas from achievable region constructions for the interference channel are used, and an achievable region for the cognitive radio channel is computed. It is shown that in the Gaussian case, the described achievable region approaches the upper bounds provided by the 22 Gaussian MIMO broadcast channel, and an interference-free channel. Results are extended to the case in which the message is causally obtained