Cognitive radio-based solutions for spectrum scarcity in Palestine

Abstract

In this paper, we study the feasibility of implementing cognitive radio (CR) secondary network either on the primary Palestinian second generation (2G) global system for mobile communication (GSM) network or on the ultra-high frequency (UHF) television (TV) band. Particularly, we propose solutions for spectrum scarcity based on the three CR paradigms, namely: interweave CR, underlay CR, and overlay CR. In the first solution, an interweave CR system is suggested to efficiently utilise the so-called TV white spaces in the UHF TV band allocated for Palestine. In the second solution, an underlay CR system based on code division multiple access (CDMA) is introduced to underlay the primary GSM system. In the third solution, an overlay CR system is proposed based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to share the same spectrum band with the primary GSM system. It is confirmed that the proposed solutions can solve the spectrum scarcity and limit the interference levels, and consequently improve system capacity.