Route and spectrum selection in dynamic spectrum networks

Efficient spectrum allocation in dynamic spectrum systems is a challenging problem, particularly for multi-hops transmissions. The inter-dependence between route selection and spectrum management makes it important to examine interaction between the two and the corresponding performance and com- plexity tradeoffs. In this paper, we explore two design method- ologies: a decoupled design where these tasks are carried out independently by different protocol layers, and a collaborative design that integrates them into a single task. Experimental results show that the collaborative design, if well-provisioned, offers significant performance improvement compared to the decoupled design. I. INTRODUCTION