Cognitive radio: methods for the detection of free bands

In contrast to current systems where the spectrum allocation is static, future cognitive radio devices will be able to seek and use in a dynamic way the frequencies for network access; this will be done by autonomous detection of vacant bands in the radio spectrum. In this article, we are interested in various methods of detection of a signal embedded in the noise by specifying their advantages and their drawbacks. Following that, a cyclostationary detection method, called multi-cycles detection, will be proposed. For illustrative purposes, we will apply these methods to the detection of the free channels within the television (TV) bands.