Hybrid Cooperative Spectrum Structured (HCSS) Approach for Adaptive Routing in Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks

Cognitive radio networks provide an important function in the efficient use of the radio spectrum. Therefore, dedicated cognitive radio ad hoc networks (CRAHNs) are expected to improve communication performance in a multihop network that requires a dedicated routing protocol that considers the dynamic mobility of secondary user nodes on the basis of the random availability of primary node channels. To enhance routing in the CRAHNs environment, in this paper, a novel Hybrid Cooperative Spectrum Structured (HCSS) approach that combines cooperative spectrum sensing and spectrum-aware routing protocols can be effective in appropriate decision making for routing packets in such a network. This approach integrates the strengths of Spectrum-Aware Semi-Structured Routing (SSR) and Spectrum-Aware Routing Protocol (SARP) to enable adaptive and efficient routing in dynamic CRAHN environments. The results showed that the proposed HCSS routing protocol increased the user demand while ensuring the quality of service (QoS) requirements by achieving an average throughput of 5164.55 Kbps, exceeding the SARP and SSR, which recorded 4585.56 Kbps and 4194.66 Kbps, respectively. The PDR for HCSS was 98.77%, which was significantly higher than that for SARP (95.60%), and the SSR was 90.15%, indicating better reliable connectivity in delivering packets to their final destinations.