University of Genova Department of Biophysical and Electronic Engineering ( DIBE ) vIdeo and SIgnal Processing FOR Telecommunications ( ISIP 40 ) Distributed Context Awareness in Cognitive

In the last decade, the usage of portable communication devices has continuously increased, together with the number of wireless communication standards. As a consequence, optimal radio resources allocation has become a problem requiring more complex solutions, including the possibility of thinking of a re-configurable, adaptive use of spectrum. A cognitive approach to radio spectrum management has been proposed as a suitable and potentially efficient solution. In this work, a specific aspect of the overall problem will be considered, i.e. how the current spectrum usage can be cooperatively understood by cognitive terminals sharing a similar space and time experience. A Distributed Spectrum Sensing (DSS) approach to the Mode Identification and Spectrum Monitoring problem is here considered as a reference approach on which to propose new results and a framework for the development of future research. Such approach strictly relies on the definition of a Cognitive (Radio) system as a system capable of Sensing, Analyzing, Deciding and Planning/Acting. In this domain, DSS from a set of cognitive terminals can be represented as a discovery process based on different amounts and types of a-priori knowledge shared by CR terminals. The Embodied Cognition approach for the design of new CR terminals, here followed, is based on inspiration from works in AI looking at intelligence as to an emergent behavior of a set of (computational) entities provided with the possibility of active interaction with the surrounding environment. In this domain, DSS is seen as a perception capability of a CR terminal, which