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Spectrum scarcity is impeding practical implementations of emerging wireless multimedia applications requiring significantly more frequency spectrum. Cognitive radio (CR) has emerged as a promising solution to the current spectral congestion problem by imparting intelligence to the conventional software defined radio that allows spectrum sharing through opportunistic spectrum access. The principal objective of CR is to optimize the use of under-utilized spectrum through robust and efficient spectrum sensing (SS). This paper introduces cognitive functionality and provides an in-depth comparative survey of various spectrum awareness techniques in terms of their sensing accuracy and computational complexities along with their merits and demerits. Specifically, key challenges in SS are highlighted and possible solutions are discussed. A classification of SS is presented to address the sensing method selection …