A decision theoretic approach for channel ranking in crowded unlicensed bands

Interference is disruptive to the operation of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in unlicensed bands as wireless systems proliferate on the spectrum. The design of a spectrum sharing scheme for WSNs to enable coexistence with geographically collocated heterogeneous wireless systems having multiple parallel interfering channels is a persistent challenge. In this context, interference identification and channel ranking in terms of spectrum access opportunities are addressed in this paper. The goal is to develop a low complexity channel ranking algorithm from channel energy measurements at sensors when a packet-reception-ratio to signal-to-interference-and-noise-ratio (PRR-SINR) interference model is unavailable at network initialization phase. The interference characterizing estimators, temporal occupancy and strength level of a channel, are proposed for interference identification. The effectiveness of the estimators is tested on a sensor platform at 2.4 GHz ISM band under interference from WLAN. Subsequently, the impact of the interference estimators on a channel quality from a receiver perspective is determined with a decision theoretic approach. The estimators are weighted according to their influence on the fitness of a channel and channel ranking is established. The proposed channel ranking achieves a significant gain over heuristic channel ranking (HCR) and gives an accurate interference profile of the channels.