Cognitive Network Factors as an Impact on Mobile Device Usability

Abstract

Two seemingly unrelated trends are converging to redefine how mobile device networks are used, particularly in the emergency services and military fields where the need for instant response and anticipation of required data can affect the outcome of the participant’s survival. The first trend is the increasing ability of sophisticated mobile devices to adapt and alter their functionality in response to sensed external events, including the use of a specific device by a combatant or emergency services provider. The second trend is the continued expansion of radio capabilities as communications devices become physically smaller, yet continue to increase in computation and communications power.Yet these capabilities are constrained by the crowded spectrum environment and require more intelligent usage analysis than exists in current radio networks. In truth, both of these trends are the result of the underlying continued improvement of integrated circuits, conventionally known as Moore’s Law. However, this paper introduces how two technical disciplines (mobile device usability modeling and cognitive radio networking) can combine to provide an entirely new paradigm of mobile communications usage.