The German city of Mainz hosted on the premises of the national regulator BNetzA last 12-13 January the first CEPT conference on cognitive radio (CR) and software defined radio (SDR) in the scope of item 1.19 (''Consider regulatory measures and their relevance to enable the introduction of software defined radio and cognitive radio systems, based on results of the ITU-R studies, in accordance with Resolution 956 (WRC-07)'') of the 2011 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-11) agenda. The event was organised by the European Radiocommunication Office (ERO) and attended by nearly 100 participants representing administrations, industry, operators, the ITU, similar organisations and the academic world. The conference was divided into four sessions held consecutively over two days; the keynote speaker was Phillipa Marks, who spoke about CR and SDR from an economic standpoint.
The first session, an ''Introduction to CR and SDR: state of the art'', included four presentations which highlighted different approaches taken by the academic world, industry and CEPT. A number of subjects were discussed, of which the following stand out: opportunities and challenges of such systems, activities of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in this area, and the example of dynamic frequency selection in radio local area networks (RLANs) in 5 GHz, work developed in the scope of CEPT.
The theme topic of the second session was ''CR: ultra wideband (UWB) - detect and avoid and the case of the digital dividend in the UHF band''. It included presentation of CEPT's work in the ultra wideband (UWB) ambit, such as an example of the need for regulatory authorities to intervene in the definition of technical parameters for spectrum ''sharing''. Also presented was the work of ECC TG4 on the study of white spaces in the UHF band, as well as some developments in this area in the United States of America and the position of the respective regulator, the FCC.
The third and fourth sessions were held on the second day and provided a perspective about the challenges and future work in the scope of CR and SDR from the standpoint of regulators, industry and the academic world. The third session focused debate on the need to determine a new regulatory framework for flexible and dynamic spectrum use, on the technical challenges of CR development, and on CEPT-level preparation of WRC-11 agenda item 1.19. Regarding this aspect, it was concluded that more progress must still be made on defining the terminology for CR and SDR with a view to achieving a common understanding within CEPT of the concepts involved.
Lastly, the fourth and last session provided the opinion of industry with respect to flexible and dynamic spectrum use by means of CR and/or SDR. Presentations were given on an understanding concerning CR within the E3 project, which is working to develop wireless network convergence solutions; the URC (Urban Planning for Radiocommunications) project, which has produced a tool for dealing with dynamic spectrum allocation (DSA) in urban areas; and finally Nokia’s viewpoint on the challenges of introducing CR in mobile terminals.
The conference closed with the conclusions and the summary by Petro Mähönen from the University of Aachen, who highlighted a number of points, among them:
- The need to explain and define the concepts of cognitive radio and software defined radio among CEPT, the ITU and ETSI;
- The importance and urgency of studies on cognitive radio and software defined radio in television broadcasting bands;
- The relevance of CEPT's role co-ordinating work in the scope of cognitive radio and software defined radio, for example by creating a specific working group (besides the PTA).
