Performance Analysis of a CSMA/CA Based MAC Protocol for Cognitive Radio Networks

We develop an analytical model to investigate the performance of a decentralized MAC protocol based on IEEE 802.11 DCF for cognitive radio networks with single spectrum band. Our analysis provides the throughput obtained by secondary users and the interference ratio perceived by primary users (SUs). The theoretical approach is verified by comparing its numerical results to simulation results. Numerical and simulation results depict the fundamental properties on the performance under various network parameters such as the number of SUs, the packet size of SUs and the minimum contention window size.