@Article{cmc.2026.069776,
AUTHOR = {Bakhtawar Gul, Atif Elahi, Tahir Saleem, Noor Gul, Fahad Algarni, Insaf Ullah},
TITLE = {Mitigating Sidelobe-Driven Attacks in OFDM-Based Cognitive Radio Networks},
JOURNAL = {Computers, Materials \& Continua},
VOLUME = {87},
YEAR = {2026},
NUMBER = {2},
PAGES = {--},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/cmc/v87n2/66560},
ISSN = {1546-2226},
ABSTRACT = {Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) enables efficient Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) but suffers from high sidelobe that causes excessive out-of-band (OOB) emissions and expose the system to spectrum-layer cyberattacks such as man-in-the-middle (MITM), eavesdropping, and primary user emulation (PUE) attacks. To address both spectral leakage and its security implications, this paper introduces a secure and intelligent hybrid optimization strategy that combinesan Eigenspace-based Generalized Sidelobe Canceller (ES-GSC) with a Genetic Algorithm (GA), to derive optimally weighted cancellation carriers. The proposed method jointly suppresses sidelobes and reinforces resistance to leakage-based attacks. MATLAB Simulation demonstrate considerable reductions in OOB emissions and higher resilience against spectrum-layer threats compared with existing techniques.},
DOI = {10.32604/cmc.2026.069776}
}