Efficient Cooperative Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio using Coalitional Game model

The performance of spectrum sensing is limited by noise uncertainty, multipath fading, and shadowing, which are the fundamental characteristics of wireless channels. If the Primary User (PU) signal experiences deep fading or blocked by obstacles, the power of the received PU signal at the Secondary User (SU) may be too weak to be detected. If the SU transmitter cannot detect the presence of the PU transmitter while the PU receiver is within the transmission range of the SU, the transmission of the PU will be interfered. To address this problem, CSS has been shown to be an effective method to improve the detection performance by exploiting spatial diversity. In this paper, we investigate the optimality of cooperation scheme using coalitional game theory. The cognitive behavior i.e. observe, learn and act can be modelled effectively in game theory to study, model and analyze the strategic interactions among Cognitive Radio (CR) users. This paper describes the analytical insights of coalitional game theory for CSS in cognitive radio, highlighting techniques for identifying steady states, convergence and steady state optimality. We critically assess the techniques available in the literature, and then describe our ongoing work applying our insights to algorithm design for cognitive radios using Game theory.