An Energy-Detection-Based Cooperative Spectrum Sensing Scheme for Minimizing the Effects of NPEE and RSPF

For improved spectrum utilization, the key technique for acquiring spectrum situational awareness (SSA) -- spectrum sensing -- is greatly improved by cooperation among the active spectrum users, as network size increases. However, the many cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) schemes that have been proposed are based on the assumptions of accurate noise power estimates, characterizable variation in noise level and absence of false or malicious users. As part of a series of SSA research projects, in this research work, we propose a novel scheme for minimizing the effects of noise power estimation error (NPEE) and received signal power falsification (RSPF) by energy-based reliability evaluation. The scheme adopts the Voting rule for fusing multiple spectrum sensing data. Based on simulation results, the proposed scheme yields significant improvement, 68.2 - 88.8%, over the conventional CSS schemes, when compared on the basis of the schemes' stability to uncertainties in noise and signal power.