Spectrum Sensing Techniques for Cognitive radio-A Review

Cognitive Radio (CR) users need to sense the environment or channel at regular time interval for sharing the spectrum band of the primary users (PUs). Once find the spectrum idle, CR users start their transmission through it. Even while transmitting, they need to continue the sensing process so that they can leave the spectrum immediately whenever find a PU wanting to use the band. Therefore, detecting PUs is one of the main functions of cognitive radio before transmission and higher the detection probability ensures better protection to the primary users. However, it is not possible to attain a high detection probability (or a low miss detection probability) and low false alarm probability simultaneously as there is a tradeoff between false alarm probability (P-fa) and the probability of detection (P-d). In this paper, the author has provided a comprehensive study on different sensing techniques and discussed their advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, it is expected that, with this article, readers can have a through understanding of sensing techniques in CR and the current research trends in this area.