Software Defined Radio Ad-hoc Relay Instrument with Neural Network Arbitrator

Software Defined Radio (SDR) is becoming a popular approach for developing customizable radio systems, allowing flexibility in communication frequencies, protocols, and processing operations without necessitating costly and time-consuming changes to physical hardware. In a rural African context, SDR could offer many benefits with its customisability. This paper discusses an experimental signal-forwarding project that combines SDR with Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) for signal strengthening, and a neural network cognitive radio arbitration system. This `MIMO Ad-hoc Relay Instrument with Neural Network Arbitrator´ (MARINNA) project investigates a potential means to accommodate aspects of the dynamic nature, and need for fault tolerance, for improving wireless connectivity in a rural context. This paper overviews the design of MARINNA system, the testing methodology, and reports on a feature-limited prototype that was developed and tested. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges to be address, and the plan for the next stage of the project.