Many of us in the wireless community have been talking about cognitive radios for years as a potential "game-changer" in the competitive landscape. Not only do I still believe this to be true, but I believe we are now on the doorstep of realizing the technology instead of just talking about prototypes and pilots. Of course the Gnu Radio (http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/show/gnuradio) has been evolving an open sources environment around software radio platforms for years, but the real disruption is likely to come from the current device manufacturers who have a huge incentive to incorporate cognitive functions into smart devices. We are seeing the early signs with Apple's "Dynamic Carrier Selection" patent (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/apple-patent-could-cut-the-carriers-out-of-the-iphone-equation/11341) would allow the users device to select the best network based on their location and need.
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