Cooperative spectrum sensing methods in the literature assume a static communication scenario with fixed channel and propagation environment characteristics. In order to maintain the level of sensing reliability and performance under changing channel and environment conditions, in this study, an online adaptive cooperation scheme is proposed. Energy detection data from each cooperating sensor are fused together by an adaptive weighted linear combination at the fusion center. Weight update operation is performed online through the use of orthogonal projections onto convex sets (POCS). Also, in this paper, an end-to-end methodology for a flexible experimental setup is proposed. This setup is specifically deployed to emulate the proposed adaptive cooperation scheme for spectrum sensing and validate its practical use in cognitive radio systems. © 2011 IEEE.