Transport Layer Protocol Design for Cognitive Radio Systems

Recent studies have shown that many licensed spectrum bands are under-utilized, which form
spectrum holes [1]. The concept of cognitive radio was introduced in order to increase the
usage of the spectrum [2]. In cognitive radio systems [3], unlicensed users (which are also
called secondary users) can perform sensing over a wide range of spectrum bands. The
secondary users can opportunistically access the unused licensed bands from the legacy
spectrum holders (which are also called primary users). In order words, the secondary users
can utilize the available licensed bands during the period of time when the primary users for
those bands are idle.

The goal of this project is to design and evaluate the performance of transport layer protocols
for cognitive radio systems. In particular, we will design rate adaptation and congestion control
algorithms which can adapt well to the rapid changes in the available bandwidth.

The student's tasks include: Background Reading and Literature Survey, Rate Adaptation and Congestion Control Protocol Design, Performance Evaluation and Comparison and Report Preparation. The student will also give a presentation to other graduate students in the communications and networking research group at the University of British Columbia.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Vincent Wong

Student:

Manzil Zaheer

Partner:

Discipline:

Engineering - computer / electrical

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of British Columbia

Program: