Design of an Efficient MAC Protocol for Opportunistic Cognitive Radio Networks

Cognitive radio technology has been developed in recent years to make efficient use of the wirelessspectrum especially for opportunistic spectrum access. Cognitive radio technology enables the secondary(cognitive) users to use the unused licensed spectrum of the primary users. Medium Access Control (MAC)protocol plays a vital role in spectrum utilization, primary user’s (PU) interference management andsecondary user’s coordination in cognitive radio (CR) networks. Here, we propose a new MAC protocolwhere control transceiver attached with sensor improves the accuracy of spectrum sensing result as well asprotects the primary user from interference. In our proposed MAC protocol, each secondary user (SU) isequipped with two radios, solves the multichannel hidden terminal problem (MHTP). Our proposed MACprotocol considers collision avoidance among SU’s and between SU’s and PU’s. We develop an analyticalmodel validated by simulation. Our scheme improves the network throughput in presence of sensing error.