Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces and Spectrum Sensing for Cognitive Radio Networks

In Cognitive Radio (CR) networks, Primary User (PU) and Secondary User (SU) coexist to efficiently share the spectrum. PU has the right to access its dedicated channel at any time, while SU, operating in an opportunistic mode. can access only when PU is absent. Thus, SU should continuously monitor the channel to avoid any interference with PU when transmitting. Several factors, such as fading and shadowing adversely impact the PU SNR at the SU receiver making the Spectrum Sensing (SS) process more challenging. Recently, Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS) has been proposed to control the propagation channel for wireless systems. Introducing IRS in CR networks impacts the SS performance because of altering the channel. In this paper, we investigate the effect of deploying IRS on the SS by considering two scenarios: in (S1) the IRS is configured to enhance the PU signal at SU, while in the second scenario (S2), the IRS is configured to assist the Primary Receiver (PR). First, we highlight several important challenges and research directions. Then, we derive the analytical average detection probability for both (S1) and (S2). Results show that deploying IRS can significantly enhance SS even when the IRS is deployed to assist the PR.