Optimal scheduling and power allocation in cooperate-to-join cognitive radio networks

In this paper, optimal resource allocation policies are characterized for wireless cognitive networks under the spectrum leasing model. We propose cooperative schemes in which secondary users share the time slot with primary users in return for cooperation. Cooperation is feasible only if the primary system’s performance is improved over the non-cooperative case. First, we investigate a scheduling problem where secondary users are interested in immediate rewards. Here, we consider both infinite and finite backlog cases. Then, we formulate another problem where the secondary users are guaranteed a portion of the primary utility, on a long term basis, in return for cooperation. Finally, we present a power allocation problem where the goal is to maximize the expected net benefit defined as utility minus cost of energy. Our proposed scheduling policies are shown to outperform non-cooperative scheduling policies, in terms of expected utility and net benefit, for a given set of feasible constraints. Based on Lyapunov Optimization techniques, we show that our schemes are arbitrarily close to the optimal performance at the price of reduced convergence rate.