Evaluation of Cooperative Cognitive Radio System for White Spectral Space Detection using the Covariance Detector

Abstract

Wireless spectrum is increasingly scarce, which motivates the need for robust methods to detect unused bands—especially under challenging conditions like low SNR and fading. This study proposes integrating Spectral Covariance Sensing (SCS) into a cooperative cognitive radio framework, leveraging hard-decision fusion schemes (AND, OR, Majority) to enhance detection stability. Using real Advanced Television Systems Committee(ATSC) signal data, the detection performance was evaluated across various SNR levels. The results show that cooperative sensing significantly improves detection probability under low SNR, with the OR rule achieving the highest detection rate (e.g., ≈90% at –30 dB) and the majority rule providing the best overall trade-off between reliability and false alarms. These findings demonstrate the practical value of cooperative SCS systems in dynamic spectrum environments.