A General Overlay/Underlay Analytic Expression

Representing Cognitive Radio Waveform

V.D. Chakravarthy

, Z. Wu

, A. Shaw

, M.A. Temple

, R. Kannan

and F. Garber

Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH

Wright State University, Dayton OH

Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH

Louisiana State University

Email: vasu.chakravarthy@wpafb.af.mil
Abstract Several studies have revealed that spectrum conges-
tion is primarily due to the inefcient use of spectrum versus un-
availability. Cognitive Radio (CR) and Ultra Wide Band (UWB)
technologies have been proposed as candidates to address this
problem. Currently, a CR determines unused frequency bands
and transmits overlay waveforms in these bands, while UWB
transmits underlay waveforms that span the entire frequency
band while coexisting with primary users. This suggests that
most of the spectrum occupied by primary users is underused.
This work proposes a general Soft Decision Cognitive Radio
(SDCR) framework, based on a previous developed Spectrally
Modulated, Spectrally Modulated (SMSE) framework, to com-
bine benets of overlay/underlay techniques while maximizing
channel capacity. We also show that current CR and UWB
implementations represent two extreme SDCR cases and that
current overlay/underlay waveforms are two special cases of the
general waveform platform.
I. INTRODUCTION
With an ever increasing demand for higher data rates,
coupled with an increase in new applications and the num-
ber of users, spectrum crowding and congestion continue to
increase. Recent Federal Communication Commission (FCC)
studies suggest that spectrum congestion is primarily due to
the inefcient use of spectrum, versus the lack of available
spectrum [1], [2]. A number of new technologies and standards
have been proposed suggesting a paradigm shift in wireless
communications is eminent [3][7].
There are presently two techniques aiming to make more
efcient use of available spectrum: Cognitive Radio (CR) and
Ultra Wide Band (UWB). In UWB transmission, a very wide
bandwidth is occupied by a signal having a very low power
spectral density. The extremely low spectral density minimizes
coexistent interference to existing narrow band communication
systems operating in the UWB transmission range [8]. In
CR techniques, frequency agile transmitters target unused
spectrum holes and transmit power within these unused
regions. By doing so, CR interference to existing wireless
systems is minimized.
The use of UWB signaling suggests that most primary
users can tolerate interference to some degree. Hence, the
spectrum usage can be viewed as unused and/or underused.
In this context, unused spectrum has been allocated but is not
currently being used whereas underused spectrum spectrum is
Noise Floor
UWB P
r
i
m
a
r
y

U
s
e
r


3
Frequency
P
o
w
e
r


D
e
n
s
i
t
y
P
r
i
m
a
r
y

U
s
e
r


2
P
r
i
m
a
r
y

U
s
e
r


1
Fig. 1. Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Underlay Waveform
Frequency
P
o
w
e
r


D
e
n
s
i
t
y
P
r
i
m
a
r
y

U
s
e
r


3
P
r
i
m
a
r
y

U
s
e
r


2
P
r
i
m
a
r
y

U
s
e
r

1
CR
Band
1
CR
Band
2
CR
Band
3
Fig. 2. Cognitive Radio (CR) Overlay Waveform
allocated and being used but not to its full capacity. Similarly,
there are currently two enabling CR waveforms, including
an overlay waveform and an underlay waveform. An overlay
waveform only operates in unused spectral regions while
avoiding interference to primary assigned users. An underlay
waveform is spectrally coincident with primary assigned users
and induces minimum tolerable interference [9]. Overlay and
underlay transmissions are illustrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2,
respectively. By simultaneously exploiting both unused and
underused spectral regions, we proposed a soft decision cog-
nitive radio (SDCR) approach whereby the transmitted power
spectral density in each region is determined by the spectrum
usage in that region [8]. This concept is illustrated in Fig. 3.
To support the proposed SDCR, we need to design a
enabling waveform which combines the overlay and underlay
waveforms. Specically, the SDCR waveform needs to contain
1-4244-1276-5/07/$25.002007 IEEE 69 2007 Waveform Diversity & Design
Frequency
P
o
w
e
r


D
e
n
s
i
t
y























P
r
i
m
a
r
y

U
s
e
r

3









P
r
i
m
a
r
y


U
s
e
r

2












P
r
i
m
a
r
y

U
s
e
r

1
CR
Band
CR
Band
CR
Band
CR
Band
CR Band CR Band
Fig. 3. Overlay and Underlay CR Waveform
different power spectral densities in different bands and dy-
namically adapt its spectral response according to time-varying
environmental conditions. As developed herein, we provide a
general analytic spectrally coded waveform platform to sup-
port SDCR implementation. Furthermore, we show that current
UWB and CR techniques are two extreme cases the SDCR,
with current overlay/underlay waveforms likewise representing
two special cases of our general waveform platform.
II. CHANNEL CAPACITY ANALYSIS
According to Shannons channel capacity condition given
by (1), channel capacity can be optimized by increasing the
signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and/or channel bandwidth (W).
C = W log (1 + S/N) (1)
In the current CR framework, the transmitter continuously
monitors the radio spectrum and identies frequency bands
as being in one of two categories, either used or unused.
The unused frequency bands are identied as CR bands for
secondary users. The channel capacity when utilizing unused
CR bands can be written as shown in (2) [8].
C
CR
=
_
N

k=1
W
u
k
_
log
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
1 +
N

k=1

CR
k
W
u
k
n
0
N

k=1
W
u
k
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
(2)
where N is the total number of unused spectral bands in the
total CR monitored bandwidth W, W
u
k
is the bandwidth of
the k
th
unused band and
CR1
k
is the power spectral density
of the CR transmission in the k
th
unused band.
UWB signaling can be used as underlay technique to
support CR transmission. In UWB signaling, a very large
contiguous bandwidth is used in a coexistence manner such
that spectrum is simultaneously shared with primary narrow
band transmissions. In this way, the total bandwidth W in
(1) is maximized. However, to avoid interferences to primary
(licensed) users, UWB transmissions are regulated by an
FCC who limits the UWB transmitted power spectral density
to a very low level. Hence, the channel capacity of UWB
transmission is extremely limited and is given by (3) [8].
C
UWB
= W log
_
_
_
_
_
_
1 +

UWB
W
n
0
W +
M

i=1

pi
W
pi
_
_
_
_
_
_
(3)
where n
0
is the additive Gaussian noise power spectral density,

UWB
is the average power spectral density of the UWB
transmission, M is the total number of primary users operating
within total bandwidth W,
pi
is the narrow band average
power spectral density of the i
th
primary user and W
p
i
is the
corresponding bandwidth of i
th
primary user.
The coexistence of an UWB transmission with primary
narrow band transmissions suggests that most of the narrow
band transmission can tolerate a certain level of interference,
i.e., even though some frequency bands are occupied by
primary users they are likely to be underused. To maximize
channel capacity, the so called used bands also need to be
considered. Accounting for both unused and underused bands,
the new SDCR [8] channel capacity can be written as [8],
C
SDCR
= W log
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
1 +
N

k=1

CR1
k
W
u
k
+
M

i=1

CR2i
W
pi
n
0
W +
M

i=1

p
i
W
p
i
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
(4)
where
CR1
k
is the CR transmitted power spectral density in
the k
th
unused band, and
CR2i
is the CR transmitted power
spectral density in the i
th
underused band. The following
constraints are imposed to maximize overall channel capacity
while minimizing mutual interference between CR users and
other primary users:

CR2i
I
i
, i (5)

CR1
k

k
, k
N

k=1

CR1
k
W
u
k
+
M

i=1

CR2i
W
pi
S
where I
i
is the interference tolerance level in the i
th
used
band,
k
is the maximum allowed transmitted power spectral
density (e.g., FCC mandated interference temperature) in the
k
th
unused band, and S is the total transmit power of the
cognitive user across all unused and underused frequency
bands.
III. SMSE FRAMEWORK BACKGROUND
Previous work proposed a general analytic framework for
spectrally modulated, spectrally encoded (SMSE) waveforms
to accommodate multi-carrier CR-based waveforms [10], [11].
Specically, an arbitrary CR waveform can be expressed in
terms of amplitude (A), phase () and frequency (F). These
three factors aid in the design of SMSE waveforms using six
design variables namely Data, Code, Window, Orthogonality
1-4244-1276-5/07/$25.002007 IEEE 70 2007 Waveform Diversity & Design
and two frequency allocation variables. See [10], [11] for
an in-depth treatment of the analytic development of SMSE
waveforms. The coding c = [c
1
, c
2
, . . . , c
N
f
], c
i
C, data
modulation, d = [d
1
, d
2
, . . . , d
N
f
], d
i
C, and window-
ing function, w = [w
1
, w
2
, . . . , w
N
f
], w
i
C account for
component-by-component amplitude and/or phase variations.
A phase only variable = [o
1
, o
2
, . . . , o
N
f
], o
i
C is used for
orthogonality between symbol streams and facilitate multiple
access.
Data, code and window variables are rst considered in
SMSE development. The m
th
frequency component of the
k
th
symbol can be written as,
s
k
[m] = c
m
d
m,k
w
m
e
j(
d
m,k
+
c
m
+
w
m
)
(6)
where m = 0, 1, ..., N
F
1 is the frequency index and
c
m
, d
m,k
, etc. are magnitude and phase design variables. The
expression in (6) can be further modied to include frequency
and orthogonality variables.
Frequency component selection in SMSE waveforms is a
function of two variables a = [a
1
, a
2
, . . . , a
N
f
], a
i
{0, 1}
and u = [u
1
, u
2
, . . . , u
N
f
], u
i
{0, 1}. Given an N
f
-point fast
Fourier transform (FFT) process, N
f
frequency components or
spectral bands are initially available. It is important to note that
frequency assignment variable a takes on binary values of 0
or 1, the complement of which indicates spectrum availability
for secondary users. Thus, this pool of frequencies is reduced
by component selection to create a number of CR assigned
(a) and usable/available (u) frequencies. The m
th
component
of the k
th
CR symbol corresponds to
s
k
[m] = amumcmd
m,k
wme
j(
d
m,k
+
cm
+
wm
+o
m,k
)
(7)
where the product a
i
u
i
{0, 1}
The discrete time domain waveform is obtained using
Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) on (7),
s
k
[n] =
1
N
f
Re
_
_
_
N
f
1

m=0
a
m
u
m
c
m
d
m,k
w
m
(8)
e
j(2f
m
t
n
+
d
m,k
+
cm
+
wm
+o
m,k
)
_
.
for t
k
t
n
t
k
+ T
sym
, f
m
= f
c
+ mf, and f is the
frequency resolution [11].
IV. SOFT DECISION SMSE (SD-SMSE) FRAMEWORK
The SMSE framework provides a unied expression for
generating and implementing a host of multi-carrier type
waveforms (e.g., OFDM, MC-CDMA, CI/OFDM, TDCS, etc)
which satises present CR models designed to utilize unused
spectral bands. However, it does not take into account the
under used spectrum. The FCC has proposed Interference
Temperature (IT) as a metric to aid in interference analysis
and for establishing a threshold on the allowable interference
induced by secondary users. This means that secondary users
can use different transmit power levels provided the sum total
of power does not exceed the established IT threshold [12]
[13].
Figure 4 illustrates a conceptual view showing primary
users (P) and unused / underused spectrum utilization for
an arbitrary IT threshold. The gure identies two cases of
spectrum inefciency: 1) since spectral assignment is based
on a binary decision, the adjacent bands next to the primary
users will be unavailable to CR users and 2) primary users
bands falling below the IT threshold will be unavailable to CR
users. A soft decision cognitive radio will be able to exploit
these underused frequency bands to increase channel capacity
and improve performance. To support such a SDCR system,
the SMSE framework requires an extension to account for
underused frequency bands.
The rst step in modifying the SMSE framework is to
re-examine the original design variables. Frequency related
factors are now termed as primary variables while amplitude
and phase related factors are termed as secondary variables.
Since the objective here is to optimize the spectrum usage,
only frequency related design variables are considered. First,
we illustrate the newly proposed SMSE framework using
Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, then dene the design variables. Fig. 6a and
Fig. 6b show how the current CR framework identies the used
and unused spectrum based on binary decisions. Fig. 6c shows
the weighted spectrum estimation resulting from the spectrum
sensing block in Fig. 5. The weighted spectrum estimate(WSE)
(a) is further processed taking into account the IT threshold,
primary users, other secondary users requirements and chan-
nel conditions. Specically, the weighted spectrum estimate
provides a metric of allowable transmission power density at
each and every frequency components in the entire bandwidth.
Hence, the WSE divides the entire bandwidth into unused (u)
and underused (b) frequency components and both the unused
and under used frequency components can be exploited. Notice
in Fig. 6d that different under used frequency components have
different allowable CR transmission power densities.
In the new SMSE framework, we relax the frequency
Fig. 4. Primary users (P) and Unused / Underused Spectral Regions
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Fig. 5. Block diagram representation of SD-SMSE framework
Fig. 6. Spectrum parsing using weighted spectrum estimation in realization
of SD-SMSE waveform
assignment variable a from binary values (hard decision) to
real values (soft decision), i.e.,
a = [a
1
, a
2
, . . . , a
N
f
], 0 a
m
1 (9)
Next, we introduce a new variable b to account for the under
used spectrum, i.e.,
b = [b
1
, b
2
, . . . , b
N
f
], 0 b
m
< 1 (10)
Note that b
m
= 1 since it represents a underused frequency
component. The unused variable u stays the same as in hard
decision CR. It is obvious that if one frequency component is
under used, it cannot be unused and vice versa, i.e., u
m
= 0
if b
m
> 0 and b
m
= 0 if u
m
= 1.
The other SMSE waveform design variables such as code,
data, window and orthogonality remain same as dened in the
original framework.
Applying both the original and new design variables, the
m
th
component of the k
th
SDCR data symbol can be ex-
pressed as
s
k
[m] = a
m
b
m
u
m
c
m
d
m,k
w
m
e
j(
d
m,k
+
c
m
+
w
m
o
m,k
)
(11)
The expression in (11) can be decomposed into unused and
underused SMSE components as represented in the new SMSE
architecture shown in Fig. 5. Applying an IDFT to (11) results
in the discrete time domain waveform given by
s
k
[n] =
1
N
f
Re
_
_
_
N
f
1

m=0
a
m
u
m
c
m
d
m,k
w
m
(12)
e
j(2fmtn+
d
m,k
+c
m
+w
m
+o
m,k
)
+
N
f
1

m=0
a
m
b
m
c
m
d
m,k
w
m
e
j(2fmtn+
d
m,k
+c
m
+w
m
+o
m,k
)
_
where the rst summation represents unused frequency com-
ponents and the second summation accounts for underused
frequency components.
Development of the new SD-SMSE framework primaryly
dealt with spectrum allocation. The secondary variables such
as code, data modulation, windowing and orthogonality func-
tion are kept the same as in the original SMSE framework.
Since all the SD-SMSE waveforms are generated by applying
secondary variables in the allocated primary variables space,
all the OFDM, NC-OFDM, MC-CDMA, NC-MC-CDMA,
TDCS and CI/ODFM are applicable using the new SD-SMSE
[10], [11], [14].
A. Case 1: Overlay Waveform - CR
Current cognitive radio transmission employs an overlay
waveform which only operates in unused spectral bands. Thus,
it is apparent that current CR transmission is a special case of
the soft decision cognitive radio when no underused frequency
components are exploited. In the SMSE framework, if we
force the underused variable b to be zero and the frequency
assignment variable a to be binary, expressed as:
b = [0, 0, . . . , 0] (13)
a = [a
1
, a
2
, . . . , a
N
f
], a
m
{0, 1} (14)
then the second summation in (12) is eliminated and reduces
to current hard decision CR expression of
s
k
[n] =
1
N
f
Re
_
_
_
N
f
1

m=0
a
m
u
m
c
m
d
m,k
w
m
(15)
e
j(2f
m
t
n
+
d
m,k
+
c
m
+
w
m
+o
m,k
)
_
.
The maximum channel capacity of such a overlay waveform
cognitive radio system is shown in (2).
B. Case 2: Underlay Waveform - UWB
Ultra wide band transmission uses an underlay waveform
which operates across all spectral components and minimizes
interference to primary users by limiting transmitted power
spectral density. Hence, the UWB transmitted power spectral
density is dictated by the primary user deemed as being most
sensitive to interference. In this case, all frequency components
are treated as underused by setting
u = [0, 0, . . . , 0] (16)
1-4244-1276-5/07/$25.002007 IEEE 72 2007 Waveform Diversity & Design
b = [K, K, . . . , K], 0 < K < 1 (17)
which effectively eliminates the rst summation in (12). The
resultant CR signal corresponds to a UWB transmission span-
ning all frequency components and is expressed as:
s
k
[n] =
1
N
f
Re
_
_
_
N
f
1

m=0
Kd
m,k
w
m
(18)
e
j(2f
m
t
n
+
d
m,k
+
cm
+
wm
+o
m,k
)
_
.
where K is a constant obtained by taking the minimum value
of the weighted power spectral density shown in Fig. 6.
The maximum channel capacity of such an UWB underlay
waveform transmission is shown in (3).
C. Case 3: Overlay/Underlay - SDCR
In our proposed soft decision cognitive radio, the waveform
combines the benets of overlay and underlay waveforms to
take advantage of both unused and underused spectrum by
employing a soft decision at each and every frequency com-
ponent, while minimizing the interference to primary users.
This way, the channel capacity given by (4) is maximized.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper we extend the previous framework of spectrally
modulated, spectrally encoded (SMSE) waveforms to accom-
modate soft decision cognitive radio (SDCR) waveforms. This
general framework allows a multi-carrier based waveform to
combine overlay and underlay waveforms and exploit both
unused and underused frequency bands to maximize channel
capacity of cognitive radio transmission. It is also shown that
current cognitive radio and ultra wide band techniques are
two extreme cases of the SDCR and current overlay/underlay
waveforms are two special cases of the general waveform
supported by this framework.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research was partially funded by the Air Force Ofce
of Scientic Research (AFOSR).
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The views expressed in this article are those of the au-
thor(s) and do not reect ofcial policy of the United States
Air Force, Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.
1-4244-1276-5/07/$25.002007 IEEE 73 2007 Waveform Diversity & Design