With the development of satellite communication, the number of satellites in space continuously increases. However, the available spectrum resources are scarce. To address the spectrum scarcity, sharing the spectrum between different communication systems is a promising option. In this paper, a novel cognitive satellite network with geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) broadband systems is studied in the downlink case. First, we present a general interference analysis model and simplify it by transforming the spatial dimension into the time dimension according to the satellite motion. Based on the interference analysis, an optimization algorithm with beamhopping and adaptive power control techniques is proposed, which can simultaneously enhance the spectral efficiency and protect the primary system. The system performance of the coexistence scenario is evaluated in terms of the system throughput. Numerical results demonstrate that the spectrum-sharing method between GEO and LEO systems is feasible, and the cognitive network can achieve a high spectral efficiency. Furthermore, the factors that affect the system in the spectral coexistence scenario are analyzed.

Cognitive satellite terrestrial networks have received considerable attention as a promising candidate to address the spectrum scarcity problem in future wireless communications. When satellite networks act as cognitive users in the networks, power control is a significant research challenge in the uplink case, especially for real-time applications. We propose two optimal power control schemes for maximizing the delay-limited capacity and outage capacity, respectively, which are useful performance indicators for real-time applications. From the long-term and short-term aspects, average and peak power constraints are adopted, respectively, at the satellite user to limit the harmful interference caused to the terrestrial base station. Extensive numerical results demonstrate the impact of interference constraints and channel condition parameters on the performance limits of satellite users.

Having the ability to provide seamless coverage and alleviate the frequency scarcity, the cognitive satellite terrestrial network becomes a promising candidate for future communication networks. In the cognitive network, spectrum sensing plays an important role in detecting the channel state for opportunistic utilization, where cooperative spectrum sensing is employed to improve the sensing performance. Additionally, it is critical for battery-powered satellite mobile terminals to diminish energy consumption costs. In this regard, this paper proposes a novel sensing-based cognitive satellite terrestrial network (SCSTN), which integrates the cognitive satellite terrestrial network with the distributed cooperative spectrum sensing network. Specifically, we focus on energy-efficient cooperative sensing in the SCSTN, which maximizes the energy efficiency (EE) of the cognitive satellite network by a tradeoff between the average throughput and the average energy consumption. In the SCSTN, the energy detection threshold of the sensing node and the rule threshold of fusion affect the average throughput and the average energy consumption. Hence, the objective of this paper is to identify the energy detection threshold of the sensing node and the rule threshold of fusion to achieve the maximum EE. We first study the EE formulation of the rule threshold of fusion when the energy detection threshold of the sensing node is given, and transform the ratio-type objective function of EE into a parametric formulation. Subsequently, by exploring the relationship between the two formulations and making use of the monotonicity of the parametric formulation, an algorithm to obtain the optimal rule threshold of fusion for the original problem is developed. Furthermore, we study the optimal formulation of the energy sensing threshold of the sensing node and discuss the effect of the sensing duration and the number of distributed cooperative terminals on the EE. Lastly, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated through numerical simulation results.

To address the spectrum scarcity in future satellite communications, employing the cognitive technique in the satellite systems is considered as a promising candidate, which leads to an advanced architecture known as cognitive satellite terrestrial networks. Power control is a significant research challenge in cognitive satellite terrestrial networks, especially when the perfect channel state information (CSI) of satellite or terrestrial links is unavailable because of the estimation error or feedback delay. In this context, we investigate the impact of imperfect CSI of both desired satellite link and harmful terrestrial interference link on the power control scheme in cognitive satellite terrestrial networks. By adopting a pilot-based channel estimation of satellite link and a back-off interference power constraint of terrestrial interference link, a novel power control scheme is presented to maximize the outage capacity of the satellite user while guaranteeing the communication quality of primary terrestrial user. Extensive numerical results quantitatively demonstrate the effect of various system parameters on the proposed power control scheme in cognitive satellite terrestrial networks with imperfect CSI.

The incorporation of the cognitive radio (CR) technique into satellite communications is considered a promising approach to addressing spectrum scarcity. It constitutes an advanced infrastructure known as cognitive satellite terrestrial network (CSTN). This letter deals with the deployment issue in CSTNs by employing the statistical modeling of practical propagation phenomena. Particularly, the statistical property of the interference level at primary satellite user owing to a CR approach is characterized in closed form for the considered scenario. Moreover, the specific exclusion zone inside which the CR approach is not permitted to operate is also provided. Numerical results show the impacts of location information of terrestrial base station, fading severity of terrestrial interference link, and antenna pattern of satellite user on the performance of primary satellite network from the deployment perspective, and also determine the geographical position for the specific primary exclusion zone.

This paper proposes novel satellite-based wireless sensor networks (WSNs), which integrate the WSN with the cognitive satellite terrestrial network. Having the ability to provide seamless network access and alleviate the spectrum scarcity, cognitive satellite terrestrial networks are considered as a promising candidate for future wireless networks with emerging requirements of ubiquitous broadband applications and increasing demand for spectral resources. With the emerging environmental and energy cost concerns in communication systems, explicit concerns on energy efficient resource allocation in satellite networks have also recently received considerable attention. In this regard, this paper proposes energy-efficient optimal power allocation schemes in the cognitive satellite terrestrial networks for non-real-time and real-time applications, respectively, which maximize the energy efficiency (EE) of the cognitive satellite user while guaranteeing the interference at the primary terrestrial user below an acceptable level. Specifically, average interference power (AIP) constraint is employed to protect the communication quality of the primary terrestrial user while average transmit power (ATP) or peak transmit power (PTP) constraint is adopted to regulate the transmit power of the satellite user. Since the energy-efficient power allocation optimization problem belongs to the nonlinear concave fractional programming problem, we solve it by combining Dinkelbach’s method with Lagrange duality method. Simulation results demonstrate that the fading severity of the terrestrial interference link is favorable to the satellite user who can achieve EE gain under the ATP constraint comparing to the PTP constraint.