Tutorial T8A: Realization of RF Front-End for a Cognitive Radio

The Cognitive Radio (CR) technology is a major step forward to address the critical challenge of “spectrum scarcity” in Wireless communications. It is a methodology to develop effective communication systems with the available radio resources and their constraints. This tutorial provides a comprehensive overview on realization of RF Front-End (RF FE) for a Cognitive Radio (CR). It begins with a discussion on the Software Defined Radio (SDR) and significance of the CR methodology, for different applications of wireless technology. Next, a brief view of system architecture for the CR is discussed. Subsequent section highlights: the architecture, detailed design along with associated mathematical analysis and the key challenges in realizing the RF FE design. Finally, the tutorial discusses the results from the realization of a RF FE. The last session concludes the tutorial, followed by a discussion.