Wireless cognitive network technologies and protocols

Software-defined radio and cognitive radio applied to wireless sensor networks and body area networks represent an intriguing and very recent paradigm, and is an objective of study of several researchers. In order to make this technology effective, it is necessary to consider an analytical model of communication capacity, energy consumption and congestion, to effectively exploit the software defined radio and cognitive radio in this type of system. This chapter discusses analytical modeling for making this kind of technology effective for wireless networks, by focusing on Cognitive Wireless Sensor Networks and Cognitive Wireless Body Area Networks. Moreover, we consider some routing approaches proposed for Cognitive Wireless Sensor Networks and Cognitive Wireless Body Area Networks, evaluated by means of simulation. Finally, we address additional issues that this type of network presents by comparing them with "traditional" routing protocols.