Abstract
In cognitive radio networks (CRNs), dynamic spectrum handoff requires efficient path planning to minimize the overhead of frequent channel switching. This paper proposes a polynomial-time approximation algorithm for spectrum handoff scheduling, based on an improved Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) modeling of the channel switching sequence. A two-phase cooperative mechanism is designed to minimize frequency-hopping overhead. We rapidly generate diverse candidate channel-switching sequences using a probabilistic method guided by real-time spectrum availability distributions. We dynamically merge locally optimal sub-paths by leveraging historical channel quality data and predicted primary user (PU) behavior in a fuzzy-logic framework. Theoretical analysis shows that the algorithm runs in worst-case O(N^4) time under a dynamic TSP variant, significantly outperforming traditional heuristic methods in scalability. Simulations demonstrate an average deviation of only 0.35% from the optimal solution. In dynamic interference scenarios, the proposed approach reduces spectrum switching delay by 41.2% compared to baseline strategies.Our algorithm effectively resolves distributed spectrum handoff conflicts in multi-user CRN scenarios.
Keywords
cognitive radio network (CRN)
dynamic spectrum handoff
traveling salesman problem (TSP)
spectrum scheduling
heuristic optimization
polynomial-time approximation
Data Availability Statement
Data will be made available on request.
Funding
This work was supported in part by the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Trustworthy Computing, East China Normal University under Grant 24Z670103399; in part by the Key Laboratory of Embedded System and Service Computing, Ministry of Education, Tongji University under Grant ESSCKF2024-10; in part by the Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Ministry of Education, Fudan University under Grant 25Z670102051; in part by the Pre-research Fund of the School of Integrated Circuits, School of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University under Grant JG0340001.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate
Not applicable.
Cite This Article
APA Style
Wu, L., & Tao, T. (2025). Dynamic Spectrum Handoff in Cognitive Radio Networks via Improved TSP Modeling. ICCK Transactions on Green Communications and Networking, 1(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.62762/TGCN.2025.232754
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