2022 International Conference on Computer Communication and Informatics (ICCCI ), Jan.
25 – 27, 2022, Coimbatore, INDIA
Machine Learning based Spectrum Sensing and
Distribution in a Cognitive Radio Network
Vikram Krishnakumar, Prem Savarinathan, Thenmozhi Karuppasamy, Avila Jayapalan
SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur-613401, TamilNadu
avila@ece.sastra.edu
Abstract— The advent of 5G communication networks will seek
2022 International Conference on Computer Communication and Informatics (ICCCI) | 978-1-6654-8035-2/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICCCI54379.2022.9740824
an increasing demand in the utilization of the spectrum with the
rise in the number of users. The radio spectrum is a scarce
resource that must be managed and exploited effectively without
sacrificing the quality of service during operation. For this
purpose, the spectrum resources can be dynamically shared
amongst all the users wherein the unutilized licensed spectrum of
the primary users can be allocated to an unlicensed secondary
user when it is underutilized by the former. This concept is called
Cognitive Radio in a communication network. In this manner,
the on-demand resources can be constructively taken advantage
of thereby, helping the unlicensed users to be part of the
spectrum at regular intervals during unoccupied times. This task
is successfully achieved through spectrum sensing by the
unlicensed secondary user. Hence, spectrum sensing is an
important task and proper care must be taken while choosing the
schemes for the same. The same concept is further extended by a
real-time scenario with multiple secondary users. Here, a central
hub called the Fusion Centre connects, manages, and helps in the
intelligent allocation of resources amongst the secondary users.
This is called Cooperative Spectrum Sensing. The use of Machine
Learning will be highly beneficial. So, the addition and
implementation of appropriate Machine Learning algorithms will
help in intelligently predicting the spectrum allocation
methods. In this work, Spectrum detection methods namely the
Cyclostationary method (for High Noise environment) and
Energy Detection method (for Low Noise environment) have been
implemented. Machine Learning Classification techniques
namely Decision Tree Classification and Random Forest
Classification have been implemented for predicting the
spectrum sensing method by having the received signal’s Energy
level (dB) and Noise level (dB) as features. A resource allocation
algorithm named priority-based resource allocation has been
used to allocate the free spectrum to the secondary users.
Keywords- Cooperative Spectrum Sensing, Machine Learning,
Cognitive Radio, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, Primary User,
Secondary User
I. INTRODUCTION (HEADING 1)
Wireless communication technologies have been improving
over the past two decades all around the world and the recent
advancements in this domain has opened up a plethora of
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research areas to work in, in order to further develop the
existing standards. The advent of 5G wireless communication
will seek an increasing demand of resources with the
increasing number of mobile users. The possibilities of
Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Smart cities, Industrial
automation etc., becoming a reality is on the higher side with
the commercial deployment of the next generation wireless
technologies part of 5G. The generation of higher data rates
with more dense heterogeneous networks will remain a dream
if the existing radio spectrum resources are not managed
properly. An intelligent usage is the only way for the mobile
operators to maintain a good quality of service since radio
spectrum is a scarce resource.
To maintain the smooth functioning of the network with
higher network traffic, the concept of Spectrum Sharing can
be incorporated. The existing licensed primary users can pave
way by sharing their spectrum resources to unlicensed
secondary users. This concept of sharing the spectrum
dynamically during its under-utilization time is called
cognitive radio. Here, the secondary cognitive users must
detect the presence of primary users termed as spectrum
sensing to use the spectrum.
The instant adaptation of spectrum resources and usage can be
done by multiple cognitive radio users only if they are
constantly monitoring the primary spectrum by
communicating among themselves. This is called cooperative
spectrum sensing and sharing since the coordination of all the
users along with a central hub named fusion center is the
major factor in this technique. Instead of manual operations,
the sensing process and be automated with the help of
Machine Learning (ML) Classification techniques. The
provision of ML techniques for this task will be highly
beneficial in order to smartly conquer the primary users‘
spectrum during their absence.
Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of the concept of artificial
intelligence wherein a machine tries to learn from the past
output to derive predictions for the future. Being convenient,
robust, and having a variety of applications, ML is being one
of the most sorts after techniques in this modern-day era in
various fields for improving the performance of a specific
task. ML is broadly classified into Supervised Learning,
 2022 International Conference on Computer Communication and Informatics (ICCCI ), Jan. 25 – 27, 2022, Coimbatore, INDIA

Unsupervised Learning, and Reinforcement Learning. These II. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

methods are incorporated into the model based on the
application requirements and specifications.

Related Works

[1] deals with the utilization of cooperative spectrum sensing

method in order to analyze the spectrum allocation correlation
of the secondary users (SUs).

In [2], an algorithm with a very robust multistage detector is

presented to satisfy CR applications. It utilizes two parallel
detectors to cover both high and low SNR bands. Energy
Detector (ED) and Singular Value based Detector (SVD)
covers high SNR band while, Cyclostationary Feature based
Detector (CFD) and Auto-correlation based Detector (ACD)
covers low SNR band.

In [3], an assignment strategy that includes spectrum sharing

bands along with a mobile network operator (MNO) is
proposed. Dynamic spectrum allocation methods were
proposed suiting to the needs and demands of the MNO. A
novel spectrum allocation method is presented to maximize
frequency and time continuity.
In [4], a concept called Licensed shared access (LSA) is
proposed to ensure that there is spectrum sharing using
bandwidth between a primary network and a secondary mobile
network. Here, the dynamic spectrum management
mechanisms are for used for LSA systems. A fair spectrum
management algorithm also maintaining the QoS value is
proposed and evaluated for distributing primary network
spectrum among mobile networks along with its different
performance metrics.
Reference [5] depicts a Universal Software Radio Peripheral
(USRP)- based ongoing testbed that can assess distinctive
solutions for spectrum management that can exploit the
Cognitive Radio (CR) worldview. The primary target of this
particular testbed is to give an exact and practical stage by
which the spectrum performance and management of a wide
arrangement of situations and use cases will be evaluated with
regards to Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) and
Opportunistic Networks (ONs).
In this paper, spectrum sensing methods namely the
Cyclostationary method and Energy Detection method have
been implemented for a high noise environment and low noise
environment respectively. Now, ML Classification techniques
namely Decision Tree Classification and Random Forest
Classification have been implemented in this work for
predicting the spectrum sensing method by having the
received analyzing the received signal transmitted from the
secondary user. A priority-based resource allocation has been
used to prioritize and allocate the free spectrum to the
secondary users in the absence of the primary users.
Fig 1. Cognitive environment
Fig.1 presents a CR environment with the presence of multiple
secondary users (SU), a primary user (PU) and fusion center
(FU). The primary users are completely allowed to access the
radio spectrum since they are licensed users. The detection of
spectrum availability during their absence also called as
spectrum holes, are to be determined only by the SUs users.
The FC helps them to collectively take a decision to provide
the final status of this task. The signals received at the primary
users‘ end are sent back to the secondary users through a
sensing channel as shown in fig.1. Now, all these signals are
collectively sent to the FC through a reporting channel once
the signals keep reaching the secondary users. The FC plays a
critical role here and helps in deciding the final status of the
spectrum availability in order to determine to accuracy of
prediction. The FC collectively analyses all the SU signals and
has a threshold in order to predict the spectrum activity. Now,
PU = 1 ; if SUSNR ≥ ThSNR (1)
0 ; otherwise
where, PU is the final activity status of the primary users,
SUSNR is the collective Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) value of
all the secondary users and ThSNR is the threshold value of
Signal-to-Noise ratio. If Pu is ‗1‘, then there is certainly a
presence of a primary user and if Pu is ‗0‘, then the primary
user is absent.
This work deals with the incorporation of two spectrum
sensing techniques that is, energy detection method and
Cyclostationary method based on the received signal quality.
The energy detection being simple, quick, does not require
prior knowledge about the spectrum activity of the primary
users and, can be used in low noise environments while the

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 2022 International Conference on Computer Communication and Informatics (ICCCI ), Jan. 25 – 27, 2022, Coimbatore, INDIA

Cyclostationary method being suitable for high noise Figure 4 shows the RSSI of five users. From the figure it is
environments, produces accurate results by having prior clear that user 3 and user 4 RSSI is good. So, they are
knowledge about the primary user. considered and rest are discarded. Like this the secondary
users are shortlisted.
In order to determine to method to be used, the SNR value is
carefully analyzed and hence suitable predictions are made.
Here, Machine Learning can prove very useful. Performance
metrics like SNR, frequency and number of samples can be
trained by the ML model to determine the method to be used.
For this, random forest classification and decision tree
classification techniques are being implemented and compared
to determine the best one to be used. ML Classification is a
double-step process which involves learning stage and
prediction stage. In the learning step, the model is trained
based upon the given input training data while in the
prediction step it will give the prediction to the response for
given data. Now, this concept can be implemented to classify
and segregate data into different categories based on the
parameters. Some of the popular types of classifications are
Random Forest Classification (RFC) and Decision Tree
Classification (DTC).

RFC uses the concept of ensemble learning consisting of many Fig 2. Comparison between random forest and decision tree classification
trees to provide solutions to complex problems. The prediction
is performed by considering the mean of the output from
various trees. So, by increasing the number of trees, the
precision of the outcome can be improved. The main aim of
incorporating a Decision Tree is to develop a robust training
model that can be used to predict the value of a target variable
by learning the decision rules inferred from prior data (training
data).
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig.2 compares the accuracies of the two different ML

algorithms for predicting the spectrum sensing method and PU Fig 3. Allocation of spectrum during non-peak hours
presence depending on the SNR value in a CR environment.
From the figure it can be concluded that random forest
classification (green color bar) yields better accuracy than the
decision tree classification (red color bar) and improves the
efficiency by 3.3 percentage.

In this work five secondary users are considered for allocation

by the fusion center. In the absence of the primary users the
free spectrum is allocated to five secondary users based on
their Received Signal Strength (RSSI), their mobility, previous
history of spectrum allocation and purpose of application.
Figure 3 shows the allocation of spectrum to the secondary Fig 4. RSSI of different Secondary Users
users during the peak time and non-peak hour. From the graph
it is clear that during peak hours spectrum is mainly allocated
to the primary users because they have got highest priority Figure 5 shows the history of allocation of free spectrum to the
over the spectrum. During the non-peak hour spectrum is secondary users in the absence of primary users. From the
allocated to the secondary users based on the parameters

mentioned above. User 4 utilizes more spectrum when graph it is clear that for user1, user 4 and user 5 spectrum was
compared to other users. allocated in the current cycle and user 2 and user 3 are not

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 2022 International Conference on Computer Communication and Informatics (ICCCI ), Jan. 25 – 27, 2022, Coimbatore, INDIA

allocated with spectrum. So, they will be given highest priority

for the next cycle.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The preferred spelling of the word ―acknowledgment‖ in

America is without an ―e‖ after the ―g‖. Avoid the stilted
expression, ―One of us (R. B. G.) thanks . . .‖ Instead, try ―R.
B. G. thanks‖. Put sponsor acknowledgments in the
unnumbered footnote on the first page.

CONCLUSION
Fig 5. History of allocation of spectrum to Secondary Users
The evolution of CR as a practical area of research has been
having a very positive effect in the domain of cellular
Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 show the utilization of spectrum by the five
communication. The possibilities of opening up new bands for
users during the peak hours and non- peak hours. From the
the next generation wireless technologies along with smart
graphs it is clear that the utilization of the spectrum by the
ideas to conserve the available resources will have a seeming
secondary users is high during the non-peak hours when
impact with the rise in user data rates and more efficient
compared to peak hours. Also, in non -peak hours not all the
bandwidth efficiency. The idea of cooperative spectrum
secondary users utilize the spectrum. Only those with good
sensing with the help of intelligent ML algorithms
RSSI, no previous history of spectrum allocation is allocated
implemented in this world will prove to play a very good role
with spectrum by the fusion center.
in the future wireless technologies.

REFERENCES

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[4] [4] M. M. Butt, I. Macaluso, C. Galiotto and N. Marchetti, "Fair
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