Primary User Authentication in Cognitive Radio Network Using pre-generated hash digest

Abstract

The primary objective of Cognitive Radio Networks (CRN) is to opportunistically utilize the available spectrum for efficient and seamless communication. Like all other radio networks, Cognitive Radio Network also suffers from a number of security attacks and Primary User Emulation Attack (PUEA) is vital among them. Primary user Emulation Attack not only degrades the performance of the Cognitive Radio Networks but also dissolve the objective of Cognitive Radio Network. Efficient and secure authentication of Primary Users (PU) is an only solution to mitigate Primary User Emulation Attack but most of the mechanisms designed for this are either complex or make changes to the spectrum. Here, we proposed a mechanism to authenticate Primary Users in Cognitive Radio Network which is neither complex nor make any changes to spectrum. The proposed mechanism is secure and also has improved the performance of the Cognitive Radio Network substantially.