Design and implementation of credit-based resource allocation protocol for DSA systems

This paper designs, implements, and evaluates an efficient dynamic spectrum access (DSA) protocol for cognitive radio networks. The proposed protocol relies on the concept of credit value to allocate resources among users fairly. It basically associates a credit value with each user (or agent) which captures its trustworthiness level, and then allocates spectrum resources to users based on their credit values. It relies on CSMA to allow users to share the spectrum resources. The protocol is implemented and evaluated using ns3, and is shown to perform well in terms of ensuring fairness and overcoming selfish behaviors among users. Using simulations, it is shown that the credit-based technique yields high system achievable rewards under various networking scenarios. In addition, the simulations also study the impact of various different practical aspects on the protocol's performance.