Dynamic resource allocation for cognitive radio systems

Cognitive Radio (CR) is considered to be a novel approach to improve the underutilization of precious radio resources by exploiting the unused licensed spectrum in dynamically changing environments. Designing efficient resource allocation algorithms for dynamic spectrum sharing and for power allocation in OFDM-CR networks is still a challenging problem. In this thesis, we specifically deal with these two problems. Dynamic spectrum sharing for the unlicensed secondary users (SU)s with device coordination could minimize the wastage of the spectrum. But this is a feasible approach only if the network considers the fairness criterion. We study the dynamic spectrum sharing problem for device coordinated cognitive radio networks with respect to fairness. We propose a simple modified proportional fair algorithm for a dynamic spectrum sharing scenario with two constraints, time and utility. Utility is measured by the amount of data processed and time is measured as the duration of a slot. This algorithm could result in variable or fixed length time slots. We will discuss the several controls possible on the algorithm and the possible extension of this algorithm for multicarrier OFDM based CR systems. Traditional water-filling algorithm is inefficient for OFDM-CR networks due to the interaction with primary users (PU)s. We consider reliability/availability of subcarriers or primary user activity for power allocation. We model this aspect mathematically with a risk-return model by defining a general rate loss function. We then propose optimal and suboptimal algorithms to allocate power under a fixed power budget for such a system with linear rate loss. These algorithms as we will see allocate more power to more reliable subcarriers in a water-filling fashion with different water levels. We compare the performance of these algorithms for our model with respect to water-filling solutions. Simulations show that suboptimal schemes perform closer to optimal scheme although they could be implemented with same complexity as water-filling algorithm. We discuss the linearity of loss function and guidelines to choose its coefficients by obtaining upper bounds on them. Finally we extend this model for interference-limited OFDM-CR systems.Applied Science, Faculty ofElectrical and Computer Engineering, Department ofGraduat