Buffer-Aware User Selection and Resource Allocation for an Opportunistic Cognitive Radio Network: A Cross-Layer Approach

In this paper, we focus on a cross-layer resource allocation problem for an opportunistic cognitive radio network, where secondary users (SUs) share a primary network’s licensed spectrum only when the primary network is sensed to be idle. We consider cooperative spectrum sensing, where SUs participate in sensing only when a benefit from resource allocation is guaranteed. Number of SUs for cooperative spectrum sensing is an important parameter as it defines both sensing and resource allocation performance. The fusion centre captures interaction between physical layer spectrum sensing, channel condition, and higher layer data buffer while selecting SUs for cooperative sensing. We consider heterogeneous data types at SUs’ data buffers during SU selection to make our system model more general. We form a mixed integer non-linear optimization problem, from which we select SUs’ set for sensing and resource allocation, appropriate sensing thresholds, and corresponding resource allocation parameters. Due to it’s combinatorial nature, the optimization problem is non-trivial. We devise an optimal algorithm to solve the optimization problem. Moreover, we also propose a computationally efficient and near-optimal greedy algorithm with suitable performance bounds. We also show advantage of our proposed optimal algorithms compared to other traditional methods through extensive simulations.