Techniques for Efficient Spectrum Sensing in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Spectrum sensing is one of the most challenging and complex task in cognitive radio and it should be often performed by mobile devices with a limited battery life. So the development of efficient techniques for advanced spectrum sensing in heterogeneous, ad hoc environments, such as those in emergency situations, is of crucial importance. In this context spectrum sensing can be completed by the determination of the spatial coordinates of the devices in order to achieve the full potential of ad hoc networks management. In this work we present two techniques for improving the efficiency of mobile devices involved in spatial spectrum sensing: design of efficacious frequency synthesizers and hybrid localization for saving energy in the tracking process. Among the different frequency synthesis techniques, we focus on the phase-locked loop (PLL) approach and we consider the optimization of the loop filter for the PLL in the light of Wiener theory by taking into account the phase noise affecting the incoming carrier, the additive white Gaussian noise and the self-noise produced by the phase detector. Then we show an approach for improving the trade-off between energy consumption and performance in a localization tracking process, realized mixing active signal transmissions as well as passive signal reflections.