Cognitive radio. Not only a name to conjure with, but a technology that evolves itself.

“A cognitive radio (CR) has a computation model of itself. It knows that it is a smart radio, and it has a user who does certain things…Over time, it would learn and would build into the computation model what the user likes…This would have enough flexibility in the hardware to be programmed to a band or mode. So instead of being stuck in the 800 to 900MHz band, it would be able to adapt over to an ISM band or up to an IEEE band or 5GHz. It’s measuring the radio propagation, signal strength, the quality of the different bands as it drives around with you. It’s building this nifty internal database of what it can do when and where.”

http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/02/28/09ctlong_1.html

Tip of the NeuroHat to Howard Rheingold’s Smart Mobs BLOG.

The FCC held a workshop on cognitive radio in 2003. Clear appeal to their chief role in figuring out allocation of the nation’s airwave.

“New cognitive radio technologies can potentially play a key role in shaping our spectrum use in the future. These technologies can lead to the advent of smarter unlicensed devices that make greater use of spectrum than possible today – without interfering with licensed users. Cognitive radios may also provide licensees with innovative ways to use their current spectrum more efficiently, and to lease their spectrum on the secondary market.”

http://www.fcc.gov/oet/cognitiveradio/

A conference is going on now – wonder if they’re too embarrassed by the term – now it’s “software-defined radio”.

http://www.sdrforum.org/