On the capacity of multiple cognitive links through common relay under spectrum-sharing constraints

In this paper, we consider an underlay cognitive relaying network consisting of multiple secondary users and introduce a cooperative transmission protocol using a common relay to help with the communications between all secondary source-destination pairs for higher throughput and lower realization complexity. A whole relay-assisted transmission procedure is composed of multiple access phase and broadcast phase, where the relay is equipped with multiple antennas, and the secondary sources and destinations are single-antenna nodes. Considering the spectrum-sharing constraints on the secondary sources and the relay, we analyze the capacity behaviors of the underlay cognitive relaying network under study. The corresponding numerical results provide a convenient tool for the presented network design and substantiate a distinguishing feature of introduced design in that multiple secondary users' communications do not rely on multiple relays, hence allowing for a more efficient use of the radio resources. © 2011 IEEE.