Extract
Cogito ergo sum a radio.
where recognition is the all-important capability in optical equipment, cognition is today's watchword in the tactical communication arena. Radios and ad hoc networks are learning to adjust to their environment. This includes propagation patterns, traffic volume, sideband and white space availability--even jamming can be sidestepped by communication gear that has been designed to 'think' outside its proverbial box.
Rene Descartes' 17th Century philosophical statement, [much less than]I think, therefore I am[much greater than], can be very loosely applied to some of today's advances in tactical communication equipment. With software-defined radios having already become a standard, the benchmark is being raised by the inception and proliferation of Cognitive Radio (CR) and Cognitive Networking (CN) research and development. The understanding of battlefield communication requirements has taken yet another quantum leap and is bounding along at a rapid pace. Development into true cognitive radios is being spearheaded by a few companies, as well as those in the academic world. One of Britain's largest academic teams dedicated to research in CR and CN resides in the Wireless Networks Lab at the University of York, where Dr. David Grace, Senior Research Fellow, Head of Communications Research Group, spearheads the facility's forays into dynamic spectrum sharing, spectrum management and cognitive radio studies. Playing the Right Game Defence IQ (part of IQPC International) hosted a Tactical Communications symposium in London in mid-April of this year; it was here where Dr. Grace enlightened those who attended his Cognitive Radio workshop with some of his group's findings. One of the first impressions that many new to the CR world will make is that the 'cognition' part is synonymous with dynamic spectrum access. This, Dr. Grace elucidated, is a falsehood. [much less than]Unless cognitive radio is implemented across the board, there will always be users stepping over others [within the battlespace][much greater than]. Cognitive radio implies cognition--where an artificial intelligence is driving the operations he explained. The first instance of cognitive radio development theory can be found in a PhD dissertation written by Joe Mitola, published in May 2000, for the Royal Institute of Technology in Kista, Sweden. Within this thesis Mr Mitola addressed one of the basic problems of why radios are not intelligent--or self-aware. He mentions that they simply do not 'know that they know' certain information about their internal configuration and cannot process and act upon data regarding their surroundings. They cannot access the information that is within them. Using the Information Basic Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA, or DSM = Management) has been made universally available through the prol...See the full content of this document
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