Existing spectrum-sensing techniques for cognitive radios require an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to work at high dynamic range and a high sampling rate, resulting in high cost. Therefore, in this paper, a spectrum-sensing method based on a unidirectionally coupled, overdamped nonlinear oscillator ring is proposed. First, the numerical model of such a system is established based on the circuit of the nonlinear oscillator. Through numerical analysis of the model, the critical condition of the system’s starting oscillation is determined, and the simulation results of the system’s response to Gaussian white noise and periodic signal are presented. The results show that once the radio signal is input into the system, it starts oscillating when in the critical region, and the oscillating frequency of each element is f o / N , where f o is the frequency of the radio signal and N is the number of elements in the ring. The oscillation indicates that the spectrum resources at f o are occupied. At the same time, the sampling rate required for an ADC is reduced to the original value, 1/ N . A prototypical circuit to verify the functionality of the system is designed, and the sensing bandwidth of the system is measured.
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