A Novel Multiband Spectrum Sensing Method Based on Wavelets and the Higuchi Fractal Dimension

Abstract

In this work, two novel methodologies for the multiband spectrum sensing in cognitive radios are implemented. Methods are based on the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and the multiresolution analysis (MRA) to detect the edges of available holes in the considered wideband spectrum. Besides, MRA is also combined with the Higuchi fractal dimension (a non-linear measure) to establish the decision rule permitting the detection of the absence or presence of one or multiple primary users in the studied wideband spectrum. Methods were tested on simulated and real signals showing a good performance. The results present these two methods as effective options for detecting primary user activity on the multiband spectrum. The first methodology works for 95% of cases, while the second one presents 98% of effectivity under simulated signals of signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) higher than 0 dB.