A Non-parametric Multi-stage Learning Framework for Cognitive Spectrum Access in IoT Networks

Given the increasing number of devices that is going to get connected to wireless networks with the advent of Internet of Things, spectrum scarcity will present a major challenge. Application of opportunistic spectrum access mechanisms to IoT networks will become increasingly important to solve this. In this paper, we present a cognitive radio network architecture which uses multi-stage online learning techniques for spectrum assignment to devices, with the aim of improving the throughput and energy efficiency of the IoT devices. In the first stage, we use an AI technique to learn the quality of a user-channel pairing. The next stage utilizes a non-parametric Bayesian learning algorithm to estimate the Primary User OFF time in each channel. The third stage augments the Bayesian learner with implicit exploration to accelerate the learning procedure. The proposed method leads to significant improvement in throughput and energy efficiency of the IoT devices while keeping the interference to the primary users minimal. We provide comprehensive empirical validation of the method with other learning based approaches.