Maximum Throughput Region of Multiuser Cognitive Access of Continuous Time Markovian Channels

The problem of cognitive access of multiple primary channels by multiple cognitive users is considered. The primary transmission on each channel is modeled by a continuous time Markov on-off process. Cognitive access of the primary channels is realized via channel sensing. Each cognitive user adopts a slotted transmission structure, senses one channel in each slot and makes the transmission decision based on the sensing outcome. The cognitive transmissions in each channel are subject to collision constraints that limit their interference to the primary users. The maximum throughput region of this multiuser cognitive network is characterized by establishing inner and outer bounds. Under tight collision constraints, the inner bound is obtained by a simple orthogonalized periodic sensing with memoryless access policy and its generalizations. The outer bound, on the other hand, is obtained by relating the sum throughput with the interference limits. It is shown that when collision constraints are tight, the outer and inner bounds match. This maximum throughput region result is further extended by a generalized periodic sensing scheme with a mechanism of timing sharing. Under general collision constraints, another outer bound is obtained via Whittle's relaxation and another inner bound obtained via Whittle's index sensing policy with memoryless access. Packet level simulations are used to validate the analytical performance prediction.