Birth of A Technology

This blog was written a few months back. I wanted to explain my area of research in a language suitable for a layman. I was a novice then too, with just a few weeks of exposure to the field of cognitive radios and IEEE 802.22, I would not write it the same way now, but just for the sake of record, here it is.


People talk about being at the forefront of technological change. Well, now I can tell you, it feels awesome.

Joseph Mitola III. first proposed Cognitive Radios as an extension of Software Defined Radios. These radios are envisioned to be autonomous, intelligent motes, who are clever enough to take all the decisions for their users. Imagine a HAL in your cellphone and you start getting a feel of the paradigm shift being brought about. These radios will be guerrillas. They will legally break laws, they will encroach on licensed spectrum, steal their RF cycle-time and sneak away before the cops arrive!

Now how do you go about setting up such a potentially USPish technology? It starts with a brilliant technologist at KTH, the Sweedish Royal Institute of Technology, coming out with a PhD thesis. The idea is picked up by the young university based dons in a jiffy. They think laterally and come out with path breaking papers which prove that the technology is viable. Still in incubatory stage, an exploratory conference is held, IEEE DYSPAN 2005(Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks). Its not even an year yet but the buzz is already in the air. Then the Federal Communications Commision steps in. Though a government agency, it has guts enough to realize that the spectrum licensing in use now is leading to a dead alley. It churns out a far sighted proposal to libearalize spectrum use. Anyone can theoretically use anyone's spectrum , with the rider that he doesnt disturb the existing licensed user. The practical introduction is still allmost a decade away. Now, its the IEEE's turn. The Institue of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is the premier standards making body in the field of communications. After Ethernet, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi it sets up the IEEE 802.22, a committeee charged with coming out with a standard for Wireless Regional Area Networks.

Meetings are held, all the leading companies send their R&D teams, so do the universities. No one wants to be left behind, not this time. Everyone knows that the future is going to come sooner than expected. Groups set up, minutes submitted, alternative techniques proposed, and disposed, blocs being formed, provisions made for future expansion, potential legalities sorted out, testbeds created, reports sought. The place is a hotbed for activity. A framework is being set up right in front of our eyes whereby innovation can proceed in a directed way. And the cellular and television companies are shuddering in their shoes. One wrong move and the complete industry will be shaken.
(Incomplete draft...)