An ontology for RF and photonic-assisted cognitive radio networks

Automating the management of capabilities of dynamic networks (mobile ah-hoc networks or MANETs) has been addressed as a design problem. But in a network of cognitive radios, the set of manageable parameters expands the design space far in excess of current design automation or manual analysis capabilities. To limit the degrees of freedom in such an environment, an ontological model of the mission, the networking middleware and the cognitive radio parameters must be created. Policy rules for the mission use of the cognitive network are created and asserted against the ontology, resulting in mission-to- radio constraints that allow optimization via network and mission management tools. In many cases, the results of this ontological analysis result in modes of operation that are counter-intuitive to traditional RF- based link analyses for critical communications capabilities. This paper discusses the generation of some of the physical layer constraints that have arisen from dynamic spectrum access (DSA) development in cognitive radios, how they translate into an ontology and how the ontology aids in creating an optimal cognitive network.