Intelligent mobile agent application for spectrum resource management in cognitive radio networks

Abstract

With the increasing demand for wireless communication, efficient spectrum utilization has become a challenge. This is because wireless spectrum is a costly resource licensed by relevant agencies to operators for a specified purpose and for long periods of use, often running into decades. But because a large portion of these licensed spectrums are sporadically used, it results into underutilization of valuable frequency resource. Consequently, dynamic spectrum access technology is proposed to address this spectrum underutilization. This research shift focused on the development of cognitive radios to further improve spectrum efficiency. The fundamental objective of cognitive radio networks is for unlicensed users (also called cognitive or secondary users), to utilize an idle frequency band and vacate the band as soon as the licensed users are detected. This action imposes a great challenge to radios due to the high fluctuations experienced in the available spectrum, as well as diverse quality of service requirements. Consequently, to take this concept a step further, in this research paper, the use of intelligent mobile agents for spectrum resource management within the cognitive radio network was developed. This was achieved by injecting mobile agent codes into the network to detect, decide and distribute spectrum resource efficiently amongst the competing radios without interferences.