Cognitive Radio: Enabling Technology in Need of Coordination

As enabling technology, Cognitive Radio (CR) holds an interesting promise for improved utilization of the radio frequency spectrum by using knowledge of the local radio environment and understanding the user’s communications needs. These CR capabilities are highly valuable for the introduction of new radio communication services, as all (usable) radio spectrum has been allocated and assigned, while in practice the spectrum appears to be under-utilized, considering time and place. However, the CR innovation journey is still in an early stage of unfolding. There is a large degree of uncertainty that will have to be mitigated before successful, large-scale deployment of the technology may be expected and the potential economic value can be realized. This contribution is aimed at identifying the instances of coordination that have led to successful deployment of new radio technologies in the past in an attempt to support the successful deployment of CR-based products and services in the near future.