IEEE draft standards P1900.4.1 and P1900.4a for heterogeneous type and spectrum sharing type cognitive radio systems

The current radio operational environment is characterized by its heterogeneity, which includes multiple operators, services, radio access technologies, network topologies, radio equipment, and frequency bands. While each radio access technology has mechanisms for efficient usage of the assigned spectrum, there is a need for the new intelligent management system, which can have capability to optimize spectrum usage across different radio access technologies and operators. In IEEE the standardization of such new management system has been performed under the Working Group 1900.4 of the Standards Coordinating Committee 41. The IEEE standard 1900.4 "Architectural Building Blocks Enabling Network-Device Distributed Decision Making for Optimized Radio Resource Usage in Heterogeneous Wireless Access Networks" was published in February 2009. Currently, two more projects are active in Working Group 1900.4. The first project is P1900.4.1 "Interfaces and Protocols Enabling Distributed Decision Making for Optimized Radio Resource Usage in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks." The second project is P1900.4a "Architecture and Interfaces for Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks in White Space Frequency Bands." The purpose of this paper is to give overview of the current status of the IEEE projects P1900.4.1 and P1900.4a.¹