An Ultra-Wide Band Umbilical Cord for Cognitive Radio Systems

Abstract

This paper describes how cognitive radio (CR) could benefit from software-defined radio (SDR) compatible ultra-wide band (UWB) systems. It introduces the notion of umbilical cord that can keep a CR device connected to its surrounding world, thanks to sensing and low speed over-the-air reconfiguration (OTAR) means provided by low-data rate (LDR) systems, and to fast OTAR downloading facilities based on high-data rate (HDR) hot spots. A particular UWB architecture supporting SDR-compatible technological constraints is proposed as candidate to realize this promising combination of capabilities