Performance analysis of multiuser cooperative spectrum sensing in various fading channels

Spectrum sensing is a key component of cognitive radio (CR) technology. However, precise detection is difficult when a CR user experiences deep shadowing or fading effects. Therefore, cooperative spectrum sensing is proposed to address this issue. In this paper, the detection performance of cooperative spectrum sensing in Rayleigh, Ricean and Nakagami fading channels is presented. First, we study the sensing performance of energy detection in normal additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels and the above-mentioned three fading channels. The computable closed form algorithms in different fading environments are presented. Different data fusion rules and closed form expressions are for the first time used for providing a comprehensive picture of cooperative energy detection in various fading channels. Then, by taking into account the error effect on the decision reporting, we analyze the performance of cooperative spectrum sensing in various fading channels and compare the detection results with perfect reporting assumption. Finally, the simulation results show that the cooperative spectrum sensing can guarantee the enhancement of the detection performance.