A Bayesian Approach to Service Selection for Secondary Users in Cognitive Radio Networks

In cognitive radio networks where secondary users (SUs) use the time-frequency gaps of primary users' (PUs) licensed spectrum opportunistically, the experienced throughput of SUs depend not only on the traffic load of the PUs but also on the PUs' service type. Each service has its own pattern of channel usage, and if the SUs know the dominant pattern of primary channel usage, then they can make a better decision on choosing which service is better to be used at a specific time to get the best advantage of the primary channel, in terms of higher achievable throughput. However, it is difficult to inform directly SUs of PUs' dominant used services in each area, for practical reasons. This paper proposes a learning mechanism embedded in SUs to sense the primary channel for a specific length of time. This algorithm recommends the SUs upon sensing a free primary channel, to choose the best service in order to get the best performance, in terms of maximum achieved throughput and the minimum experienced delay. The proposed learning mechanism is based on a Bayesian approach that can predict the performance of a requested service for a given SU. Simulation results show that this service selection method outperforms the blind opportunistic SU service selection, significantly. Keywords—Cognitive Radio; Service Selection; Bayesian