A Credit-Token-Based Spectrum Etiquette Framework for Coexistence of Heterogeneous Cognitive Radio Networks

The coexistence of cognitive radio (CR) networks in the same swath of spectrum has become an increasingly important problem, which is especially challenging when coexisting networks are heterogeneous (i.e., use different air interface standards), such as the case in TV white spaces. In this paper, we propose a credit-token-based spectrum etiquette framework that enables spectrum sharing among distributed heterogeneous CR networks with equal priority. Specifically, we propose a game-auction coexistence framework. Each network acts as either an offerer or a requester, and coexists with other networks via a non-cooperative game and a truthful multi-winner auction. The framework addresses the trade-offs among social welfare and offerer's revenue in the auction and requester's utility in the game. We prove that the framework guarantees system stability. Our simulation results show that the proposed coexistence framework always converges to a near-optimal distributed solution and improves coexistence fairness and spectrum utilization.