Coordinating standardization in dynamic spectrum access

Abstract

This paper investigates the gap between research into Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA), and the standardization of these technologies, as well as ways in which coordination of standardization activities between EU funded research projects might help bridge this gap. Concretely, it first discusses the current state of standardization in CR and DSA, as well as the need for a coordinated approach to DSA standardization among European projects. It subsequently provides a short overview of the DSA and CR research landscape in Europe and briefly describes the objectives of the Cognitive Radio Standardization Initiative (CRS-i). The following sections on the paper then focus on a survey which was conducted among the 26 currently funded, Radio Access and Spectrum related EU projects, with specific analysis also performed for the CR and DSA related sub-cluster of projects. This survey provides insight into projects' current standardization activities and collaboration methods, as well as opportunities and bottlenecks for collaboration in standardization. The paper concludes that the coordination of standardization efforts, as well as specific instruments to enable the standardization of research results beyond the project lifetime, are desirable if Europe is to play a role in the global standardization of CR and DSA. Based on the survey and on close interactions with RAS cluster projects, the paper finally proposes a number of concrete coordination trajectories. © 2014 IEEE.