Dynamic Spectrum Detection Via Compressive Sensing

Spectrum congestion is a major concern in both military and commercial wireless networks. To support growing demand for ubiquitous spectrum usage, Cognitive Radio is a new paradigm in wireless communication that can be used to exploit unused part of the spectrum by dynamically adjusting its operating parameters. While cognitive radio technology is a promising solution to the spectral congestion problem, efficient methods for detecting white spaces in wideband radio spectrum remain a challenge. Conventional methods of detection are forced to use the high sampling rate requirement of Nyquist criterion. In this paper, the feasibility and efficacy of using compressive sensing (CS) algorithms inconjunction with Haar wavelet for identifying spectrum holes in the wideband spectrum is explored. Compressive sensing is an emerging theory that shows that it’s possible to achieve good reconstruction, at sampling rates lower than that specified by Nyquist. CS approach is robust in AWGN and fading channel.