Cognitive Networks: Towards Self-Aware Networks

2.1. Introduction and Background

Consumers always want more for less. Network equipment vendors, service providers and network operators have responded by building smarter devices that are full of features; concurrently, network operators are offering new types of access methods based on technological advances. This is exacerbated by the desire of service providers to converge different types of networks, both as a means to offer new applications as well as to support new service models. These and other factors are changing the way people communicate and access entertainment, news, music and other types of media, whether using fixed or mobile devices. This gives rise to a very complex environment. At the same time, additional complexity exacerbating this can be found in many areas. ^[] lists five principal sources of complexity:

• Separation of business- and technology-specific information that relate to the same subject.

• Inability to harmonize network management data that is inherently different.

• Inability to cope with new functionality and new technologies due to lack of a common design philosophy used by all components.

• Isolation of common management data into separate repositories.

• Inability to respond to user and environmental changes over the course of the system lifecycle.

Furthermore, the above problems don't take into account challenges in the radio space, which include:

• Optimization of spectrum usage (including unlicensed spectrum).

• Inability of mobile terminals to implement ...