A Strong Machine Learning Classifier and Decision Stumps Based Hybrid AdaBoost Classification Algorithm for Cognitive Radios †

Machine learning (ML) based classification methods have been viewed as one kind of alternative solution for cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) in recent years. In this paper, ML techniques based CSS algorithms are investigated for cognitive radio networks (CRN). Specifically, a strong machine learning classifier (MLC) and decision stumps (DS) based adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) classification mechanism is proposed for pattern classification of the primary user’s behavior in the network. The conventional AdaBoost algorithm only combines multiple sub-classifiers and produces a strong weight based on their weights in classification. Taking into account the fact that the strong MLC and the weak DS serve as different sub-classifiers in classification, we propose employing a strong MLC as the first-stage classifier and DS as the second-stage classifiers, to eventually determine the class that the spectrum energy vector belongs to. We verify in simulations that the proposed hybrid AdaBoost algorithms are capable of achieving a higher detection probability than the conventional ML based spectrum sensing algorithms and the conventional hard fusion based CSS schemes.