A component-based architecture for cognitive radio resource management

Cognitive radio networks are envisioned to solve the problem of spectral scarcity in wireless networks; through providing highly configurable radios and protocol stacks to support the application of a variety of efficient and possibly cross-layered solutions. However, the large numbers of hardware and software modules involved in realising these goals raises a fundamental design problem. Specifically, how do we do construct scalable and extensible systems to work across heterogeneous systems and help realise their full potential. To address these issues, we propose a component-based approach to the construction of the control and management software for radios. We propose generic interfaces to support heterogeneity and portability. Our architecture supports dynamic policy updates and enforcement through a Policy Engine. Finally, we show the realisation of the proposed implementation architecture through a system example.