Three-Dimensional RF Sensor Networks for Widespread Spectrum Monitoring

• Published in: IEEE transactions on cognitive communications and networking Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 763 - 777
• Main Authors: Kleber, Nikolaus, Chisum, Jonathan D., Hochwald, Bertrand, Laneman, J. Nicholas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01-06-2022; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antenna gain; Antennas; Changing environments; cooperative spectrum sensing; Directional antennas; Directive antennas; Emitters; Environment models; Monitoring; Omnidirectional antennas; Optimization; Radio frequency; radio spectrum management; Sensors; Solid modeling; Systems design; Three-dimensional displays; Two dimensional models; Wireless sensor networks
• ISSN: 2332-7731; 2332-7731
• DOI: 10.1109/TCCN.2022.3140770

Spectrum monitoring could improve spectral management and efficiency by enabling spectrum sharing, strengthening policy enforcement, and facilitating data-driven modeling of RF environments. This paper considers spectrum monitoring sensor networks in three dimensions to extend previous work on two-dimensional models. We derive a closed-form expression for the probability of emitter detection, which acts as a metric for system design. We find optimal antenna half-power beamwidths for emitter detection. Additionally, we find that for a path loss exponent less than approximately 3.22, directional antennas are optimal. Otherwise, omnidirectional antennas are optimal. Further, despite potential sub-optimality, omnidirectional antennas are found to be robust in changing environments. Finally, a survey of antenna gain models is evaluated against real antennas to validate the choice of gain model in the paper.