Design of spread spectrum receiver system and circuit for cognitive radio

Abstract

Fast and accurate spectrum sensing is one of the most important functions in a cognitive radio (CR) seeking to use the licensed but unoccupied spectrum segments. A spread spectrum receiver was proposed with a CR spectrum sensing capability in the UHF band. The system was designed using MATLAB and simulated based on Simulink. The fundament function of cognitive radio, spectrum sensing is realized. This system could accurately sense the spectrum usage status over a wide frequency range with tunable resolution. Besides the system level design, partial circuit design was also included. The major component wideband LC VCO was designed, and simulated in Cadence.