CSERE (Cognitive System Enabling Radio Evolution): A modular and user-friendly cognitive engine

Abstract

CSERE (Cognitive System Enabling Radio Evolution) is a high performance modular cognitive engine written in Python which can control a wide variety of radio platforms to implement fully functional cognitive radios. Its modular architecture allows CSERE to hot swap software components like objective analyzers (objective function calculators), rankers, and environmental sensors, based on the evolving needs of the cognitive radio's mission and changes in the RF environment. Using an embedded version of CSERE running on a US $150 BeagleBoard single-board computer and controlling a US $12 Hope RF RFM22B RFIC, the authors have built cognitive radios small enough to install on Lego robots and inexpensive enough for student laboratory work. The CSERE software is available for research purposes at no cost.