Rapid Deployment and Maintenance Free operation of Wireless infrastructure

This is a potential idea for a dissertation. One of the biggest cost factors for a large scale deployment of a wireless system isn't really the hardware itself. The hard infrastructure (cabinets, poles, grounding, pads) etc. costs a lot as well. But I think the biggest cost is the systems integrator costs for design, installation, and long term maintenace.

The design and deployment is complicated enough that you'd need a batch of highly skilled technical people to get them out there. One unforseen change in spectrum usage from a random noise signal and it will have to be changed. Again, call out the Masters educated techs and fix it.

A cognitive radio based wireless infrastructure would be able to adapt to changes in the wireless environment, and be easily deployed. It wouldn't take a highly skilled person to tack them up on a pole and run wires to them.

The DOT is in a position right now where their maintenance forces are severely taxed just for the basic infrastructure such as signals. Their workforce is untrained in basic IP based devices such as cameras and wireless radios. So in order to maintain it themseleves they will have to 1) educate their workforce and 2) increase their workforce. Right now it seems that they don't want to do either and are even going in the opposite direction in terms of downscaling and privatizing maintenance functions.

but that privitazation is going to increases costs significantly especially when you have a technical product and complex function as a wirelss infrastructre.

A cognitive based system would be require a variet of PHY, MAC and routing options This might be a good dissertation topic. In addition to a cognitive radio aspect I think there is a large need for a cogntive network aspect. In the MacKenzie, Da Silva paper on cognitive networks they mention
"For instance a particular MAC protocol may optimize for power consumption, creating higher hop count routes that use short links. Howeer this mode of operation might result in additional end-to-end delay (due to the additional processing, queing and transmission delay that goes along with higher hop count routes) which in turn could affect the transport layer leading to more transmissions

I've seen first hand how higher hop counts lead to decreased throughput. So this issue is very important. A single cognitive radio might have it's own selfish requirements that will help it's overall goal but an overriding umbrella of a cognitive network with emphasis on a systems end-to-end goal is going to take each radio's decisions into account and make the best overall change to the system operation.