A Wireless@VT team has received a $260,000 Department of Defense (DoD) Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) grant to develop an outdoor cognitive radio network testbed. Tamal Bose serves as principal investigator (PI), with Haris Volos and Jeff Reed as Co-PIs.

Virginia Tech has developed an indoor heterogeneous wireless communication network testbed, called the VT Cognitive Radio Network Testbed (VT-CORNET). This testbed currently consists of 48 fixed radio nodes, and another 10 portable radio nodes are currently being integrated to the testbed. According to Bose, this testbed "covers a wide range of indoor scenarios, and allows for relatively short range experimentation."

Bose also notes that this testbed has minimal outdoor ability, which is a limitation because many military operations occur outside. The Virginia Tech team will be developing an Outdoor Cognitive Radio Network Testbed (O-CORNET) to supplement their existing testbed. O-CORNET will consist of 15 outdoor radio nodes and 2 mobile outdoor radio nodes.

"Such a network of fixed and mobile outdoor cognitive radio nodes will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to test new and innovative wireless networking and cognitive radio applications in a real world scenario," says Bose. Applications include creating new spectrum management regimes, location aware wireless applications, highly robust wireless links, and self-configuring radios.