Out-of-band sensing scheme for dynamic frequency hopping in satellite communications

This paper makes preliminary steps at exploring a novel application of cognitive radios (CRs) for reliable satellite communications. We propose the use of dynamically adjusted frequency hopping (FH) sequences for satellite transmissions. Such sequences are more robust against smart eavesdropping and targeted interference than fixed FH sequences. In our approach, FH sequence is adjusted according to the outcome of out-of-band sensing, carried out by a CR module that resides in the satellite itself or at the receiving ground station. Our protocol, called OSDFH, relies on exploiting the spectrum sensing capabilities of CRs for proactive detection of channel quality. We analyze the characteristics of the proposed OSDFH using a finite state Markov chain (FSMC) framework. Level crossing rate (LCR) analysis is used to determine the transition probabilities of the Markov chain. These probabilities are then used to measure the 'channel stability,' a metric that reflects the freshness of sensed channel interference. We use simulations to study the effects of different system parameters on the performance of our proposed protocol.