The invention discloses a spectrum sensing method and device in a cognitive
wireless network. The method comprises the following steps: sampling a
noise environment to obtain a first sampling matrix, and obtaining a corresponding first
covariance matrix based on the first sampling matrix; sampling a
wireless signal to be sensed to obtain a second sampling matrix, and obtaining a second
covariance matrix based on the second sampling matrix; calculating a
geometric distance between a first coordinate point and a second coordinate point by adopting a statistical manifold measurement method, wherein the first
covariance matrix and the second
covariance matrix separately correspond to the first coordinate point and the second coordinate point of a statistical manifold, and the statistical manifold is established based on
Gaussian distribution; judging whether the
geometric distance is greater than a preset threshold, if yes, determining that a
signal exists in the
wireless signal to be sensed, and otherwise, determining that only noises exist in the
wireless signal to be sensed; and setting the preset threshold based on the
false alarm probability. According to the spectrum sensing method and device disclosed by the invention, the
wireless signal to be sensed can also be sensed even under relatively low signal-to-
noise ratios during use, and the spectrum sensing efficiency can be improved.