Did You Know About Cognitive Radio?

Introduction

It is a form of wireless communication under which a transceiver can detect which communication channels are being used and which ones are not.

These transreceivers can move into vacant channels by avoiding occupied ones. These are those capabilities that help in optimizing the use of the available frequency radio frequency spectrum.

This communication also minimizes interference from other users. By avoiding channels that are occupied, the spectrum efficiency gets increased and improves the quality of service.

It is a limited resource that is allocated through a licensing process.
The allocated spectrum is not usually optimal.
Some brands get crowded, while others are relatively unused.

Networks And Capabilities

It is a hybrid technology that includes software-defined radio being applied to spread spectrum communication.

The network of cognitive radio is split into two main networks: a primary network and a secondary network.
The primary one is equipped with a licensed band and primary radio-based stations.
The secondary one shares the unused spectrum with the primary network.

Three major capabilities of cognitive radio that differentiate it from the traditional one are:

Cognition- this radio understands its geographical and operational environment.
Reconfiguration- as per the knowledge of cognitive, cognitive radio can decide to dynamically and autonomously adjust parameters.
Learning- this radio can also learn from the experience and experiment with new configurations within new situations.

Cognitive Radio Facets

The two main facets are spectrum sensing and spectrum database.

Spectrum Sensing

Devices of cognitive radio track the spectrum bands for identifying users that are licensed to operate in that band.

These devices also look for unused portions of the RF spectrum, which are known as white spaces or spectrum holes.
The above holes are created and removed dynamically without using a license.
This sensing may be cooperative or non-cooperative. Within the cooperative, sharing of spectrum information takes place, and within non-cooperative, each device of CR acts on its own.

Spectrum Database

TV stations update the use of RF spectrum in a database, which is maintained by the FCC.

The devices seek information about the free spectrum from this database and they don’t need to rely on complex, time-consuming, and expensive spectrum sensing techniques.
The drawback is that it is difficult for the database for updating dynamic spectrum activity in real-time. Due to this, devices may miss out on opportunities to access unused spectrum.
For growing the number of devices that make use of the RF spectrum, a mixed approach is useful.

Types Of Cognitive radio

There are two broad categories: heterogeneous and spectrum-sharing.

Heterogeneous

Under this, several radio access networks are run by operators by using the same or different radio access technology protocols. It makes use of a network-centric approach and frequency bands, which are allocated to various RANs.

Spectrum-sharing

Under this, various RANs share the same frequency band and also coordinate with each other for using unoccupied sub-bands efficiently.

In both types of radios, radio resources are optimized and QoS is better than it can do for traditional radio. Another way through which you can categorize CR is full cognitive or spectrum sensing.

Applications Of Cognitive Radio

It is a disruptive new technology with potential applications, which is why it is understood as next-generation communication.

It can help you in addressing connectivity problems in rural areas.
It has the potential to optimize RF operations for smartphones and IoT devices.
It is also known as a content distribution network and giant wireless network.

Other applications include:

Campus wide-range network RF coverage
Leased networks
Disaster relief
Emergency networks
Medical applications
Weather forecasting
Traffic control

Wrapping Up

To sum up, we can say that cognitive radio is a new product give by the evolved technology. It has some of those capabilities, which a traditional radio cannot ever have.

It is something that can understand the location and perform accordingly. With this much information, you must have got an idea of cognitive radio.