Preface
A Brief Journey through “Cognitive Wireless Communication Networks”
Ekram Hossain, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Vijay Bhargava, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Introduction
Cognitive radio has emerged as a promising technology for maximizing the utiliza-
tion of the limited radio bandwidth while accommodating the increasing amount of
services and applications in wireless networks. A cognitive radio (CR) transceiver
is able to adapt to the dynamic radio environment and the network parameters to
maximize the utilization of the limited radio resources while providing flexibility in
wireless access. The key features of a CR transceiver are awareness of the radio envi-
ronment (in terms of spectrum usage, power spectral density of transmitted/received
signals, wireless protocol signaling) and intelligence. This intelligence is achieved
through learning for adaptive tuning of system parameters such as transmit power,
carrier frequency, and modulation strategy (at the physical layer), and higher-layer
protocol parameters.
Development of cognitive radio technology has to deal with technical and prac-
tical considerations (which are highly multidisciplinary) as well as regulatory re-
quirements. There is an increasing interest on this technology among the researchers
in both academia and industry and the spectrum policy makers. The key enabling
techniques for cognitive radio networks (also referred to as dynamic spectrum ac-
cess networks) are wideband signal processing techniques for digital radio, advanced
wireless communications methods, artificial intelligence and machine learning tech-
niques, and cognitive radio-aware adaptive wireless/mobile networking protocols.
This book on Cognitive Wireless Communication Networks includes a rich set of
research articles featuring recent advances in theory, design, and analysis of cognitive
