Towards a large-scale cognitive radio network: Testbed, intensive computing, frequency agility and security

Cognitive radio (CR) is a promising technique for improving the efficiency of utilizing the precious radio spectrum. A cognitive radio network (CRN) testbed not only can verify concepts, algorithms, and protocols for CR, but also can reveal practical problems and guide future research. Vision, architecture, intensive computing, frequency band shifting, security, ultra-wideband receiver and potential applications are discussed in this paper. In support of our arguments, experiments and demonstrations are reported as well.