TDCS-based cognitive radio networks with multiuser interference avoidance

For overlay cognitive radio networks (CRNs), transform domain communication system (TDCS) has been proposed to support multiuser communications through spectrum bin nulling and frequency domain spreading. In TDCS-based CRNs, each user is assigned a specific pseudorandom spreading sequence. However, the existence of multiuser interference (MUI) is one of main concerns, due to the non-zero cross-correlations between any pair of TDCS signals. In this paper, a novel framework of TDCS-based CRNs with the joint design of sequences and modulation schemes is presented to realize MUI avoidance. With the uncertainty of spectrum sensing results in CRNs, we first introduce a unique sequence design through two-dimensional time-frequency synthesis and obtain a class of almost perfect sequences whose periodic auto-correlation and cross-correlations are identically zero for most circular shifts. These correlation properties are further exploited in conjunction with a specially-designed cyclic code shift keying in order to achieve the advantage of MUI avoidance. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed TDCS-based CRNs are well suited for decentralized networks against the near-far problem.