"Cognitive" or "White-space" radio, the subject of the actual FCC notice, is real though. In simplistic terms, it means making fixed "FCC style" spectrum management largely obsolete, by pairing each radio transmitter with a receiver. The receiver is used to monitor the surrounding radio environment, and the system makes a determination, in real-time, of what (if anything) it can transmit whilst avoiding interference with other users of the spectrum.
Cognitive radio offers the potential for large increases in data capacity since the radio spectrum is currently underutilised. I was at a conference a few years ago, where a presenter had done the measurements, and the utilisation of the radio spectrum (averaged across time and frequency) was about 5%. It turns out that most licensees hardly, if ever, transmit.
There's currently a regulatory push to allow others to use a chunk of spectrum, as long as they don't interfere with the licensee, meaning the licensee gets guaranteed access, rather than exclusive access. It should be interesting, since it will open the (cheaper?) alternative of buying smarter radios instead of buying spectrum.
Cognitive radio offers the potential for large increases in data capacity since the radio spectrum is currently underutilised. I was at a conference a few years ago, where a presenter had done the measurements, and the utilisation of the radio spectrum (averaged across time and frequency) was about 5%. It turns out that most licensees hardly, if ever, transmit.
There's currently a regulatory push to allow others to use a chunk of spectrum, as long as they don't interfere with the licensee, meaning the licensee gets guaranteed access, rather than exclusive access. It should be interesting, since it will open the (cheaper?) alternative of buying smarter radios instead of buying spectrum.