Cognitive Transmissions with Multiple Relays in Cognitive Radio Networks

In cognitive radio networks, each cognitive transmission process typically requires two phases: the spectrum sensing phase and data transmission phase. In this paper, we investigate cognitive transmissions with multiple relays by jointly considering the two phases over Rayleigh fading channels. We study a selective fusion spectrum sensing and best relay data transmission (SFSS-BRDT) scheme in multiple-relay cognitive radio networks. Specifically, in the spectrum sensing phase, only the initial spectrum sensing results, which are received from the cognitive relays and decoded correctly at a cognitive source, are selected and used for fusion. In the data transmission phase, only the best relay is utilized to assist the cognitive source for data transmissions. Under the constraint of satisfying a required probability of false alarm of spectrum holes (for the protection of the primary user), we derive an exact closed-form expression of the spectrum hole utilization efficiency for the SFSS-BRDT scheme, which is used as a measure to quantify the percentage of spectrum holes utilized by the cognitive source for its successful data transmissions. For the comparison purpose, we also examine the spectrum hole utilization efficiency for a fixed fusion spectrum sensing and best relay data transmission (FFSS-BRDT) scheme, where all the initial spectrum sensing results are used for fusion without any refined selection. Numerical results show that, under a target probability of false alarm of spectrum holes, the SFSS-BRDT scheme outperforms the FFSS-BRDT scheme in terms of the spectrum hole utilization efficiency. Moreover, the spectrum hole utilization efficiency of the SFSS-BRDT scheme always improves as the number of cognitive relays increases, whereas the FFSS-BRDT scheme's performance improves initially and degrades eventually after a critical number of cognitive relays. It is also shown that a maximum spectrum hole utilization efficiency can be achieved through an optimal allocation of the time durations between the spectrum sensing and data transmission phases for both the FFSS-BRDT and SFSS-BRDT schemes.