Performance analysis of link rendezvous protocol for cognitive radio networks

A link rendezvous protocol is proposed in the context of first responder applications. These applications require protocols that can withstand the total loss of infrastructure, evolve autonomously, and scale to meet the capacity demands of a crisis. Our protocol does not rely on critical infrastructure. It is designed to be spectrally efficient and it minimizes the risk of interference to ongoing communications. We present an overall process which facilitates establishing and maintaining self-configuring networks based upon a service paradigm. We then present the link rendezvous process in detail. At the heart of this process is an attention signal composed of a carrier with carefully designed side tones. The parameters and performance metrics associated with this attention signal and link rendezvous protocol are discussed. The probabilities of false positives and negatives in the detection of this signal are analyzed numerically. Time to connect factors are also analyzed.