Channel Management in IEEE 802.22 WRAN Systems

Channel management policy is one of the key functions of any cognitive radio system. The channel management decision in a cognitive radio system depends on various factors such as government regulations, limitations of transmission power between communicating devices, availability of geo-location information, and the quality of various available channels. The main purpose of channel management in a cognitive radio system is to protect the incumbent users (licensed users). The first international standard based on cognitive radio technology is IEEE 802.22, Wireless Regional Area Networks, which aims at providing broadband access in rural areas by effectively utilizing the unused TV channels. This standard aims at describing both PHY and MAC layer functionalities in an infrastructure-based broadband wireless access network for communication between consumer premises equipment using a base station. This article presents the cognitive radio functionality of this standard in detail. The cognitive functionality is provided by the dynamic channel management using channel sensing, channel classification, and maintenance of channel information. Using these techniques, this standard effectively protects the incumbent users and dynamically manages the channel allocation in IEEE 802.22 WRAN systems.