Spectrum sensing is an essential pre-processing step of cognitive radio technology for dynamic radio spectrum management. One of the main functions of Cognitive radios is to detect the unused spectrum and share it without harmful interference with other users. The detection of signal components present within a determined frequency band is an important requirement of any sensing technique. Most methods are restricted to the detection of the spectral lines. However, these methods may not comply with the needs imposed by practical applications. 

This master thesis work presents a novel method to detect significant spectral components in measured non-flat spectra by classifying them in two groups: signal and noise frequency lines. The algorithm based on Fisher’s discriminant analysis, aside from the detection of spectral lines, estimates the magnitude of the spectral lines and provides a measure of the quality of classification to determine if a spectral line was incorrectly classified. Furthermore, the frequency lines with higher probability of misclassification are regrouped and the validation process recomputed, which results in lower probabilities of misclassification.

The proposed automatic detection algorithm requires no user interaction since any prior knowledge about the measured signal and the noise power is needed. The presence or absence of a signal regardless of the shape of the spectrum can be detected. Hence, this method becomes a strong basis for high-quality operation mode of cognitive radios.

Simulation and measurement results prove the advantages of the presented technique. The performance of the technique is evaluated for different signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) ranging from 0 to -21dB as required by the IEEE standard for smart radios. The method is compared with previous signal detection methods.