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Zheng compares the scheme to a driver's reacting to what she sees other drivers doing. "If I'm in a traffic lane that is heavy, maybe it's time for me to shift to another lane that is not so busy," she says. When shifting lanes, however, a driver needs to follow rules that prevent her from bumping into others.
Zheng has demonstrated her approach in computer simulations and is working toward testing it on actual hardware. But putting spectrum-sharing theory into practice will take engineering work, from designing the right antennas to writing the software that will run the cognitive radios, Zheng acknowledges. "This is just a starting phase," she says.
Nonetheless, cognitive radios are already making headway in the real world. Intel has plans to build reconfigurable chips that will use software to analyze their environments and select the best protocols and frequencies for data transmission. The FCC has made special allowances so that new types of wireless networks can test these ideas on unused television channels, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which sets many of the technical standards that continue to drive the Internet revolution, has begun considering cognitive-radio standards.
It may be 10 years before all the issues get sorted out, Zheng says, but as the airwaves become more crowded, all wireless devices will need more-efficient ways to share the spectrum.
OTHER PLAYERS
Cognitive Radio
Bob Broderson -- Advanced communication algorithms and low-power devices
University of California, Berkeley
John Chapin -- Software-defined radios
Vanu, Cambridge, MA
Michael Honig -- Pricing algorithm for spectrum sharing
Northwestern University
Joseph Mitola III -- Cognitive radios
Mitre, McLean, VA
Adam Wolisz -- Protocols for communications networks
Technical University of Berlin, Germany
Home page image courtesy of Gregg Segal.
Verizon and AT&T dominate the airwaves, but Google helped open the networks.
Wireless goes rural.
A new technology standard on the way will change the economics of Internet access--and make Wi-Fi look feeble.
Although agile frequency hopping has been in use in intel communities for a while, when it becomes the usual method of business for everyone,we will to revisit current security approaches. I agree with Dr Zheng in that the advantages will justify the increased threats
Peter
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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Guest (Charlie)
Smart Agile Frequency Hopping Intelligence Tracking
We at Silacon launched agile searching and hopping using such a paradigm as Dr. Zheng some years back. Ajile Frequency hopping is no old art. OR applied to communications is commonly practiced by the NSA all of the time and has been for decades. We are applying with NOAA at present to communicate emerging hurricanes.
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