The Idle Period Distribution for CSMA/CA Networks for Spectrum Sensing Applications

Abstract

The CSMA/CA protocol leaves a idle/busy period signature in its band of operation that can easily be profiled by energy detectors. In this paper, we present a hypothesis on the protocol's idle period distribution and verify its exactness through simulation. This distribution may be useful in spectrum sensing applications where there is a need to fingerprint such networks, or to infer the number of nodes actively participating in the system using simple, protocol-independent circuitry.Index Terms-CSMA/CA, spectrum sensing, idle period, analytical model.