System, apparatus, and method for a two-stage mechanism for quiet period management in spectrum agile radio networks

A 2-stage base station (BS) sensing apparatus (1100) to manage and perform a 2-stage network-wide quiet period occupancy sensing with respect to a list of channels (402), comprising:

• a BS fast sensing module (1102) as a stage 1;
• a BS fine sensing module (1103) as a stage 2;
• and
• a BS quiet-period control module (400) that is configured to execute the BS fast sensing module (1102) to obtain channel occupancy data (1101.1), determine therefrom N≧1 channels of the list of channels (402), and communicate the list (402) to at least one CPE (1202i) to request channel occupancy reports (455) therefrom for each channel in the list (402).

A 2-stage customer premise equipment (CPE) sensing apparatus (1150) to perform and report on quiet period occupancy sensing with respect to a list of channels (402), comprising:

• a CPE fast sensing module (1102) as a stage 1;
• a CPE fine sensing module (1103) as a stage 2;
• and
• a CPE quiet-period control module (450) that is configured to execute the CPE fast sensing module (1102) and the CPE fine sensing module (1103) to obtain and report channel occupancy data (455) for the list of channels (402) based on fine sensing changes (413) received from a base station (BS) (1201).

A method for determining network-wide quiet period occupancy, comprising the steps of:

• determining a list of channels by a base station (BS) (1201);
• and
• executing a fast sensing stage by the BS (1201) and at least one customer premise equipment (CPE) (1202i) to produce reports thereby on quiet period occupancy for the list of channels (402).
• consolidating by the BS, the BS and CPE reports (455) as channel occupancy data (1101.1);
• determining, by the BS (1201), from the channel occupancy data (1101.1) whether the energy in a given channel of the list of channels (402) is always below a pre-determined threshold and performing the steps of:
• a. cancelling a next scheduled fine sensing period (302) for the given channel when the energy is determined to be always below a pre-determined threshold,
• b. otherwise performing, by the BS (1201) and at least one CPE (1202i), a next scheduled fine sensing period (302) for the given channel to obtain fine sensing data for the given channel, and
• c. adjusting the channel occupancy data (1101.1) with the fine sensing data for the given channel;
• and
• using a channel by the at least one CPE (1202i) on the basis of the channel occupancy data (1101.1) for that channel.