Multi-User Based Spectrum Sensing for Cognitive Radios: Trace and Eigenvalues Approach

ILGIN F. Y., ÇELİK H.

IEEE Access, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1109/access.2026.3696056
  • Dergi Adı: IEEE Access
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Compendex, INSPEC, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Cognitive radio, Sample covariance matrix, Spectrum sensing, Studentized extreme eigenvalue, Tracy-Widom distribution
  • Erzincan Binali Yıldırım Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

In this paper, we propose a novel spectrum detection method for cognitive radios using covariance matrix eigenvalues and its trace. Unlike some traditional eigenvalue and covariance-based detectors, the proposed method is independent of noise power and computationally simple. This common usage improves detection reliability, especially under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions and limited sample sizes. Theoretical analyses are provided in detail to characterize the statistical behavior of the proposed test statistic for both hypotheses. Detailed simulation results show that the proposed method is advantageous in terms of computational cost and detection performance.