7th International Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks

Research Article

A Software Defined Testbed for Reconfigurable Antenna Cognitive Radio

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/icst.crowncom.2012.249582,
        author={Kevin Wanuga and Doug Pfeil and David Gonzalez and Kapil Dandekar},
        title={A Software Defined Testbed for Reconfigurable Antenna Cognitive Radio},
        proceedings={7th International Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={CROWNCOM},
        year={2012},
        month={7},
        keywords={software defined radio testbed cognitive radio re-configurable antennas},
        doi={10.4108/icst.crowncom.2012.249582}
    }
    
  • Kevin Wanuga
    Doug Pfeil
    David Gonzalez
    Kapil Dandekar
    Year: 2012
    A Software Defined Testbed for Reconfigurable Antenna Cognitive Radio
    CROWNCOM
    IEEE
    DOI: 10.4108/icst.crowncom.2012.249582
Kevin Wanuga1,*, Doug Pfeil1, David Gonzalez1, Kapil Dandekar1
  • 1: Drexel University
*Contact email: ktw25@drexel.edu

Abstract

A cognitive radio is capable of sensing local radio conditions and adapting its transmission and reception parameters to optimize performance in the evolving network environment. The use of software defined radio (SDR) to make communications more flexible has greatly facilitated the design of cognitive radios, by making communications reconfigurable at lower layers of the networking stack. The Cognitive Antenna Testbed described in this paper augments the flexibility of physical layer design through the use of reconfigurable antennas, which are capable of adapting frequency, pattern and polarization electrically, thereby expanding the design space of cognitive radio and networking algorithms. This testbed offers a platform for developing and field-testing reconfigurable antenna algorithms. Representative results of experiments performed with this testbed for antenna state selection, are provided to illustrate its relevance to cognitive networking research. Current research adapting this technology for use in dynamic spectrum access (DSA) applications is also discussed.