Emerging applications, services and engineering for [Guest Editorial]

The rapid advancements in wireless communications are expected to increase the demand for radio spectrum resources by orders of magnitude during the next decade. This problem must be addressed using technology and regulatory innovations for significant improvements in spectrum utilization in cellular networks. Emerging cognitive radio technology has been identified as a high-impact disruptive innovation that could provide solutions to the cellular traffic congestion problems and exploit the underutilized spectral resources to pave an application-driven path toward the next generation of cellular technology.