Optimal Multiband Joint Detection for Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks

Spectrum sensing is an essential functionality that enables cognitive radios to detect spectral holes and to opportunistically use under-utilized frequency bands without causing harmful interference to legacy (primary) networks. In this paper, a novel wideband spectrum sensing technique referred to as multiband joint detection is introduced, which jointly detects the primary signals over multiple frequency bands rather than over one band at a time. Specifically, the spectrum sensing problem is formulated as a class of optimization problems, which maximize the aggregated opportunistic throughput of a cognitive radio system under some constraints on the interference to the primary users. By exploiting the…