Patent ID: 8140085

Claim:
A method for selecting a cognitive radio (CR) channel, comprising the steps at a CR mobile subscriber: scanning frequency bands to determine the availability of one or more CR base stations at the location of the CR mobile subscriber; determining a transmit power level for each available CR base station; measuring a received power level for each available CR base station; computing an estimated link budget for each candidate channel, wherein the estimated link budget comprises a difference between the transmit power level of the CR base station and the corresponding measured received power level for the CR base station; calculating required transmit power by the CR mobile subscriber to reach each CR base station and avoid interference to identified incumbents; ranking the CR base stations based on the estimated link budget, required transmit power and maximum allowed transmit power level of the CR mobile subscriber; selecting and utilizing a highest ranked CR base station and channel for transmission from the CR mobile subscriber; and maintaining CR mobile subscriber communication by switching CR base stations in response to detected mobility of the CR mobile subscriber and further wherein the detected mobility meets a predefined criteria.