The objective of this research is to address fundamental problems in wide band cognitive radio, namely statistical information of wideband spectrum and corresponding system design, from both theoretical and implementation perspectives. A hardware test bed will demonstrate the proposed statistical modeling and algorithms. The interdisciplinary nature of the research lends itself to cross-disciplinary collaboration and education that can involve researchers in electrical engineering, computer science, and math. The research provides the basis for course projects in areas including wireless communications and machine learning.
The research has the potential to bring new results and outcomes to the cognitive radio research community. The research has the potential to contribute fundamental models, algorithms, and test beds for the study and realization of wideband cognitive radio. It also has the potential to provide new methodologies and techniques for fields like statistical modeling, signal processing, communication theory, and hardware implementation.
With respect to broader impacts, the proposed research also encourages active participation from students of underrepresented groups. The investigators have collaboration with the University of Tennessee Knoxville chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and will periodically provide lectures to NSBE members. Two high school students working in the one of the investigator's laboratory through the Pre-college Research Program and will be involved into this project, which can help to attract gifted high school students into engineering.
