Enabling Technologies

1) SDR:
The increased availability of SDR platforms is spurring developments in CR. The
necessary characteristics of an SDR required to implement a practical CR are excess
computing resources, controllability of the system operating parameters, affordability,
and usable software development environments including standardized application
programming interfaces (APIs). CR is nothing but an SDR that is aware of its
environment, internal state and location and simultaneously adjusts its operating
frequency. SDRs provide software control of a variety of modulation techniques,
wideband and narrowband operation, transmission security (TRANSEC) functions
(such as hopping), and waveform requirements.

SDR forum deals with standardisation of software interface and also facilitates
integration of software components from multiple vendors.
 digital modular radio (DMR)
 Small Unit Operations Situational Awareness Systems (SUO SAS) -
portable SDR operating from 20 MHz to 2.5 GHz.
 Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS)

2) Geolocation
Geolocation is an important CR enabling technology due to the wide range of
applications that may result from a radio being aware of its current location and
possibly being aware of its planned path and destination. The GPS is a satellite-based
system that uses the time difference of arrival (TDoA) to geolocate a receiver. The
resolution of GPS is approximately 100 m. In the absence of GPS signals,
triangulation approaches may be used to geolocate a radio from cooperative or even
non-cooperative emitters

3) Networking Protocols

Software for Mobile Ad hoc Networking (MANET), although maturing slowly, is a

key enabling technology. The medium access control (MAC) layer is critical in CR
networks. If the CR is employing advanced spectrum access techniques, a robust
MAC that mitigates the hidden node problem is needed. An interesting application of
CR is the ability to learn how to network with other CRs and adapt behavior to
achieve some QoS goal such as data rate below some BER bound, bounded latency,
limited jitter, and so forth.

4) Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS):

A cognitive radio adds both sensing and an adaptation element to the software defined
and software radios. DFS refers to the ability to sense signals from other nearby
transmitters in an effort to choose an optimum operating environment. Four new
 capabilities embodied in cognitive radios will help enable dynamic use of the
spectrum:
(i)Flexibility: ability to change the waveform and the configuration of a
device.
(ii)Agility: ability to change the spectral band in which a device will operate.
(iii)RF sensing: ability to observe the state of the system, which includes the
radio and environment.
(iv)Networking: ability to communicate between multiple nodes and thus
facilitate combining the sensing and control capacity of those nodes.

5) NeXt Generation (XG) Networks

The main focus of XG networks is to dynamically redistribute allocated spectrum in
operating radio networks in order to address rapidly growing requirements for
communications bandwidth. The program goals are to enable radios to automatically
select spectrum and operating modes in a manner that increases the survivability of
communication networks and minimizes disruption to existing users.

6) Policy-based radio
A radio that is governed by a predetermined set of rules for behavior. The rules
define the operating limits of such a radio. These rules can be defined and
implemented:
● During manufacture
● During configuration of a device by the user
● During over-the-air provisioning and/or
● By over-the-air control.

Electromagnetic Spectrum and Regulations

Radio frequency spectrum
The radio frequency spectrum is an abundant natural resource that uniformly covers the planet
and is available for a wide variety of useful purposes. Beyond the historic voice communications
and increasingly dominant multimedia and data networking focus of this text, this spectrum is
regularly used for a diverse array of applications, including radar for finding large and small
objects and even cooking food in the microwave oven in your home. Electromagnetic waves are
typically described by any of the following three physical properties:
the frequency f, wavelength λ, or photon energy E.
The relation between frequency and wavelength given as,

Where, c is the speed of light and is 3 x 108 m/s.

 The radio frequency spectrum is divided into a number of bands as shown in figure. The table
shows the various bands as designated by ITU and its applications

Various Bands as designated by ITU and its applications

Band name Abbreviation Frequency wavelength Example uses

Extremely low frequency ELF 30–300 Hz 10,000–1,000 km AC Power line frequencies

landline telephony, fax

300–3,000 Hz
Voice frequency VF 1,000–100 km machines, fiber-optic
communication
3–30 kHz
Very low frequency VLF 100–10 km Marine Communication

30–300 kHz
Low frequency LF 10–1 km Marine Communication

Medium frequency MF 300–3,000 kHz AM broadcasts, amateur radio

1,000–100 m
3–30 MHz Long distance aircraft/Ship
High frequency HF 100–10 m
coomunication
30–300 MHz FM broadcasts, television broa
Very high frequency VHF 10–1 m
dcasts, cable television
300–
Ultra high frequency UHF Cellular telephony
3,000 MHz 100–10 cm
3–30 GHz Radars, microwave links,
Super high frequency SHF 10–1 cm
satellite Communication
30–300 GHz
Extremely high frequency EHF 10–1 mm Wireless Local Loop

300GHz to 400 Remote controls and other LoS

Infrared IR 1mm to 770nm
THz communication
400THz to 900
Visible light VL 770nm to 330nm Optic fibre communication
THz

Early History and Success of RF spectrum

First wireless communications systems-wireless telegraph pioneered by Marconi and others
in the late 1800s. The first international wireless standards meeting-the International
Radiotelegraph Conference - organized by the International Telegraph Union (ITU)-in 1906
in Berlin.
Objectives and Philosophy:
The ITU mission is
● to bring the benefits of ICT to all the world’s inhabitants.
● ITU’s mission is to enable the growth and sustained development of
telecommunications and information networks, and to facilitate universal
access so that people everywhere can participate in, and benefit from, the
emerging information society and global economy.
● ITU remains dedicated to helping the world communicate. The initial radio standards
were focused on - shore-based radio receivers. This was especially important for
monitoring distress signals.
● Though frequencies were formally allocated as early as 1912 to initially assist in these
ship-to-shore communications,
● The 1927 International Radiotelegraph Conference provided a relatively
comprehensive allocation of frequency bands to the various radio services in
existence at the time (fixed, maritime and aeronautical mobile, broadcasting, amateur,
and experimental).
● On October 15, 1947, ITU became a United Nations specialized agency.
● At the same time, the International Frequency Registration Board (IFRB) was
established within the ITU to coordinate the increasingly complicated task of
managing the radio frequency spectrum.
● Also in the same year, the Table of Frequency Allocations, first introduced in 1912
(based on concerns that arose after the Titanic disaster), became mandatory to assist,
guide, and at times tabulate spectrum use in the various member countries.
● Over the years this table has been expanded (especially to higher and higher
frequency ranges) and continuously refined by the ITU.
● While the ITU provides a framework and guidance for global spectral use, each nation
has its own independent regulatory body that operates under the national government
of the specific country.
● In the United States the primary regulatory body is the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) - established in 1934. The FCC develops and enforces regulations
in support of the laws governing the commercial use of the spectrum created by the
U.S. Congress and signed into law by the president.
● In the United States, government use of the spectrum is administered by a separate
entity, the Office of Spectrum Management in the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA), which reports to the Department of Commerce in
the executive branch of the government.
Spectrum Regulations
Since mid-1980s, most regulatory bodies have moved from the strict assessment of “public
interest” value, to the use of a market-based approach for “new spectrum” assignment (i.e.,
various forms of auction), especially for commercial assignments such as cell phone bands.
I. Era of Increasing Regulatory Challenges:
Supply of spectrum is clearly finite, but the demand for the spectrum is fundamentally
unbounded. This ever-increasing demand is sometimes based on the “quadruple whammy”
of spectrum use. This “quadruple whammy” is composed of four elements, all focused on
satisfying a critical personal or societal need.
Elements of the Quadruple whammy:
i)Applications:
The number and variety of different radio applications is virtually unbounded and
rapidly evolving. For example, these include: broadcast communications (television,
radio), commercial communications (emergency services radios), industrial
communications and fleet management, aeronautical communications, military
communications, personal communications (cell phones, two-way radios), wireless
networks (personal, local area, metropolitan), satellite communications.
ii) Coverage:
The need to offer these applications to an ever broader audience and eliminate any
spatial constraints in the use of the applications
iii) Duty Cycle:
The most popular of these applications will be used for an ever increasing percentage
of the time, ultimately following the popular personal dictum of “always on, always
connected.”
iv) Performance:
The demands for ever-increasing levels of performance for the popular applications
require increasing allocation of spectral bandwidth, since there is a direct correlation
between allocated bandwidth and the sustainable data rate that a channel can support.
In its simplest form this is described by the Nyquist bandwidth formula:
C = 2B (for binary signals)
C = 2B log 2 (M) (for multilevel signals),
where C is the capacity, B is the bandwidth, and M is the number of signal
levels.
II. Allocation, Reallocation, and Optimization:
Spectrum allocation is done in three ways
i) Beauty contest method
ii) Lottery system
iii) Auctioning
Regulatory value judgments were required to determine whether an existing application
should be retired, replaced, relocated, or have its spectral allocation reduced to make room
for a new high-priority application that could optimally operate in the spectrum used by the
existing application.
The most widely used band for unlicensed activities is at 2.4 GHz, but large new bands at 5-6
GHz are now available around the world for new applications.
Dynamic spectrum access networks (Or) cognitive access networks
This approach is based on the important observation that most of the spectrum, in most of the
places, most of the time is completely unused. In this method, temporary (usually licensed-
exempt) spectrum is shared between heterogeneous users.
III. Regulatory Actions:
● The U.S. FCC modified its rules for the industrial, scientific, and medical band to
enable its use for wireless communication (FCC Rules, Part 15-247).This was the first
of three major initiatives to begin to address this critical issue.
● The other two have been the allowance of ultra-wideband (UWB) underlays, based on
an FCC Report and Order filed February 14, 2002 (and released April 22, 2002), and
even more recently, cognitive radio overlays supported by another FCC Report and
Order released March 11, 2005.
● Other nations are following this trend, including the direction outlined in the highly
regarded Spectrum Framework Review produced by Ofcom in June 2005.
IV. Spectrum Task Forces and Commissions:
Two of the more prominent efforts conducted over the past decade were the
● FCC Spectrum Task Force commissioned by then FCC Chairman Michael
Powell and chaired by Dr. Paul Kolodzy, and
● The CSIS Spectrum Commission chaired by Bob Galvin, the legendary former
chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola, and James Schlesinger, the
former chair of the Atomic Energy Commission, director of the CIA, secretary
of Defense, and secretary of Energy.
Both of these extensive studies came to the conclusion that the existing regulatory structure
that attempts to allocate a discrete band for each application is no longer functional and have
clearly pointed the emerging power of cognitive radio technology.

Should a Regulator Allow Cognitive Access?

The national regulator in each country decides who has access to the radio spectrum.
● The regulators enable access by either issuing licenses or exempting particular
devices from the need to have a license.
● Therefore, cognitive access in commercial spectrum would generally be illegal until
it is enabled by a regulator through a set of orders specifying the conditions under
which this kind of technology might be deployed.
The regulator could adopt a variety of approaches to cognitive access, including
(1) Deciding not to allow it (and hence do nothing).
(2) Enabling existing license holders to allow cognitive access into their own bands if
they chose to.
(3) Licensing cognitive access to particular bands.
(4) Exempting cognitive equipment from the need for licensing with appropriate
restrictions on when, where, and how they might operate.
How to Determine the Rules of Entry

If the regulator decides to allow cognitive access to a particular band, perhaps a TV

broadcasting band, the next step is to set the rules of entry.
Regulatory Implications of Different Methods of Cognition:
Three broad techniques used for identifying whether bands are free from use have been
suggested. These are i) sensing, ii) beacons, and iii) geolocation
Geographical Databases
An alternative to sensing is for a cognitive device to precisely know its location and have
access to a database listing the frequencies it is allowed to use at each location. This
overcomes the regulatory issues associated, with sensing, but leads to other regulatory issues,
such as
● To what accuracy should the device know its location?
● Who will maintain the database? Will there be one provider for all bands or a
separate database per band? What will the commercial arrangements be? Will
there be monopoly concerns?
● What availability is needed for the database? Is it acceptable for it to be off-air
for substantial periods?
● How will devices download updated versions of the database? How frequently
should they do so? What will the loading on the spectrum be as a result?
● What about the dynamic use of the spectrum for frequencies that are only
occasionally in use?
Beacon Reception:
This approach requires the transmission of a signal from some appropriate infrastructure
providing information on which frequencies are available for cognitive use in the vicinity.
Problems:
● Who provides the beacon signal? What are the commercial arrangements, and
if there is only one provider, are there competition concerns?
● How is the information the beacon transmits kept up to date, especially where
the licensed services are changing rapidly?
● What spectrum is used for the beacon?
● What technical parameters and protocols are used by the beacon transmitter?
● How to prevent the beacon signal from being received outside its intended
coverage area and as a result being applied incorrectly, and conversely how to
make sure that it is available to all cognitive devices in the target area?
● Should there be separate beacons for separate frequency bands or one beacon
for all the bands into which cognitive access is allowed?
● Is it acceptable for the use of cognitive devices to be denied access if the
beacon fails or is taken off-air for any reason?

IV. Regulatory Developments to Date:

 i. In November 2008 the FCC published its Report and Order enabling cognitive access
in the white space in the TV broadcast spectrum.
ii. In July 2009, Ofcom published a statement on “Licence-Exempting Cognitive
Devices Using Interleaved Spectrum”.
iii. The FCC concluded that sensing alone was insufficiently proven for cognitive access.
As a result, it further concluded that geographical databases (termed geolocation)
were also required.
iv. Specified details such as the “locational” accuracy (50 m) and the frequency of
consulting the database (at least daily or whenever movement is detected) were also
stipulated in the Report and Order document.
v. These studies have most often been performed by companies seeking to understand
the usage characteristics in a specific frequency band into which they are attempting
to provide a new wireless service.
vi. Others have performed more significant studies over broader spectral ranges, but most
of these have been short-term studies looking at specific spectral regions in specific
geographies for relatively short periods of time.