Distributed Spectrum Management in TV White Space Cognitive Radio Networks

In this paper, we investigate the spectrum management problem in TV White Space (TVWS) Cognitive Radio Networks using a game theoretical approach, accounting for adjacent-channel interference. TV Bands Devices (TVBDs) compete to access available TV channels and choose idle blocks that optimize some objective function. Specifically, the goal of each TVBD is to minimize the price paid to the Database operator and a cost function that depends on the interference between unlicensed devices. We show that the proposed TVWS management game admits a potential function under general conditions. Accordingly, we use a Best Response algorithm to converge in few iterations to the Nash Equilibrium (NE) points. We evaluate the performance of the proposed game, considering both static and dynamic TVWS scenarios and taking into account users' mobility. Our results show that at the NE, the game provides an interesting tradeoff between efficient TV spectrum use and reduction of interference between TVBDs.