Radio Environment Maps: The Survey of Construction Methods

Radio environment maps (REMs) and geolocation database represent an important source of information for the operation of cognitive radio networks, replacing or complementing spectrum sensing information. This paper provides a survey of methods for constructing the radio frequency layer of radio environment map (RF-REM) using distributed measurements of the signal levels at a given frequency in space and time. The signal level measurements can be obtained from fixed or mobile devices capable of sensing radio environment and sending this information to the REM. The signal measurements are complemented with information already stored in different REM content layers. The combined information is applied for estimation of the RF-REM layer. The RF-REM construction methods are compared, and their advantages and disadvantages with respect to the spatial distribution of signal measurements and computational complexity is given. This survey also indicates possible directions of further research in indirect RF-REM construction methods. It emphasizes that accurate RF-REM construction methods should in the best case support operation with random and clustered signal measurements, their operation should not be affected by measurements outliers, and it must estimate signal levels comparably on all RF-REM locations with moderate computational effort. Keywords: Cognitive radio, REM, RF-REM, construction methods