Spectrum sensing challenges: blind sensing and sensing optimization

By any measure, wireless communications is one of the most evolving fields in engineering. This, in return, has imposed many challenges, especially in handling the hunger for higher data rates in the next generation wireless networks. Among these challenges is how to provide the needed resources in terms of the electromagnetic radio spectrum for these networks. In this regard, cognitive radio (CR) based on dynamic spectrum access (DSA) has been attracting huge attention as a promising solution for more efficient utilization of the available radio spectrum. DSA is based on finding and opportunistically accessing the free-of-use portions of spectrum. To facilitate DSA, spectrum sensing can be…