Protocol Reference Model, Security and Inter-Operability in a Cognitive Communications System

• US 20090124207A1
• Filed: 08/11/2008
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc), United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Incorporated (BAE Systems Plc)
• Inventors: Sherman, Matthew J., Khuu, Phong C., McNeill, Kevin M., Mody, Apurva N., Kiernan, Thomas, Reddy, Ranga, Dudgeon, Dan E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,437,700 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.110
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/162 at the data link layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/037 of the control plane, e.g. signalling traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0431 Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/106 Packet or message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/122 Counter-measures against attacks; Protection against rogue devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/37 Managing security policies for mobile devices or for controlling mobile applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/79 Radio fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Various cognitive communications system architectures and their corresponding Protocol Reference Models (PRMs) are disclosed. Such PRMs incorporate a Cognitive Plane in addition to conventional Data and Management Planes. The additional Cognitive Plane functionality may include, for example, spectrum sensing, spectrum management, geolocation, and security functions. The Cognitive Plane may further include a Policy Engine and a Learning and Reasoning Module. In some embodiments, Management Plane functions may be effectively combined to form a database of primitives (and their respective values) called a Management Information Base (MIB). In addition, techniques are provided by which various components of cognitive and non-cognitive, as well as mesh-enabled and non-mesh-enabled nodes in a network, inter-operate with each other. The architectures allow a Spectrum Manager (or Signal Space Manager) to combine information from various network layers (e.g., PHY/MAC Layers, Spectrum Sensing Function, Geolocation Function, and/or Security Sublayers), and to make informed decisions on spectrum utilization.

Claims

1. A cognitive communications system, comprising:

a Data Plane including Physical (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) Layers operatively coupled to one another;

a Management Plane having one or more management entities for interfacing with the PHY and MAC Layers, and at least one of a Station Management Entity (SME) and a Network Control and Management System (NCMS) for controlling operation of the system; and

a Cognitive Plane having at least one of a Spectrum Manager (SM), a Spectrum Sensing Function (SSF), and a Geolocation (GL) Function for interfacing with at least one of the management entities and determining whether additional resources including a spectrum are available to enable communication;

wherein each of the planes is distinct from one another.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the Cognitive Plane includes each of the Spectrum Sensing Function (SSF), Geolocation (GL) function, and the Spectrum Manager (SM), and the SSF is for detecting signals in a given channel, and the GL function is for providing geolocation information, and the SM determines whether to transmit information on the given channel based on sensing information received from the SSF and geolocation information received from the GL function.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein:

the SM is further configured as a Signal Space Manager (SSM) capable of managing signal space of system in the context of at least one of space, time, frequency, spectrum, modulation, coding, power, and location; and

the SSF is further capable of at least one of clustering of the sensing information and signal classification.

4. The system of claim 2 further comprising:

an SM-SSF Service Access Point (SAP) for operatively coupling the SM to the SSF function; and

an SM-GL SAP for operatively coupling the SM to the GL function.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the Cognitive Plane further comprises at least one of:

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the SSF;

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the GL function; and

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the Management Plane.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the one or more Security Sublayers included in the system are used for at least one of:

authentication of detected signals;

authentication of geolocation information;

tamper-proofing SM functionality;

authentication of system co-existence information;

detection and reporting of spurious transmissions; and

protection of sensitive information relevant to spectrum availability and/or usage.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the one or more Security Sublayers included in the system are used for at least one of:

scheduling random cognitive communications device sensing to distinguish between a legitimate or malicious activity;

scheduling co-operative sensing via a collection of nodes to distinguish between legitimate and malicious activity; and

finger printing of detected signals.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a Convergence Sublayer operatively coupled to the MAC Layer and for converting data to/from a format compatible with the MAC Layer and communicating with higher layers operatively coupled to the system.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the Data Plane further comprises:

one or more Security Sublayers for securing communication between the MAC Layer and the PHY Layer.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more management entities for interfacing with the PHY and MAC Layers comprise:

a PHY Layer Management Entity (PLME) for interfacing with and managing the PHY Layer; and

a MAC Layer Management Entity (MLME) for interfacing with and managing the MAC Layer.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the Management Plane further comprises:

one or more Security Sublayers for securing communication between the MLME and the PLME; and

a Security Sublayer for securing communication between the SM and the MLME.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the Cognitive Plane further comprises:

a Policy Engine for defining system and network policies; and

a Learning and Reasoning Module for keeping track of at least one of signal behavior, user behavior, system behavior, friendly operators, and malicious operators.

13. The system in claim 12 wherein at least one of the Learning and Reasoning Module and Policy Engine are implemented as separate modules on a network of the system.

14. The system in claim 1 wherein at least one of the Spectrum Manager (SM), Spectrum Sensing Function (SSF), and Geolocation (GL) function are implemented as separate modules on a network of the system.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the system includes at least one cognitive node and at least one non-cognitive node and is associated with a communication frame structure, and cognitive and non-cognitive nodes exchange information using self co-existence windows of the frame structure, whereby cognitive nodes transmit information related to at least one of the resources, the system, and network policies, and whereby non-cognitive nodes receive information related to at least one of the resources, the system, and network policies.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the system includes at least one cognitive mesh-enabled node and at least one non-cognitive non-mesh-enabled node and is associated with a communication frame structure, and cognitive mesh-enabled and non-cognitive non-mesh-enabled nodes exchange information using mesh control zones of the frame structure, whereby cognitive nodes transmit information related to at least one of the resources, the system, and network policies, and whereby non-cognitive nodes receive information related to at least one of the resources, the system, and network policies.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the system is associated with a communication frame structure and at least one of mesh control zones and self co-existence windows of the frame structure are used for backhaul link formations between cells.

18. A cognitive communications system, comprising:

a Data Plane including Physical (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) Layers operatively coupled to one another;

a Management Plane having one or more management entities for interfacing with the PHY and MAC Layers, and at least one of a Station Management Entity (SME) and a Network Control and Management System (NCMS) for controlling operation of the system; and

a Cognitive Plane having a Spectrum Manager (SM), a Spectrum Sensing Function (SSF), and a Geolocation (GL) Function for interfacing with at least one of the management entities and determining whether additional resources including a spectrum are available to enable communication, wherein the SSF is for detecting signals in a given channel, and the GL function is for providing geolocation information, and the SM determines whether to transmit information on the given channel based on sensing information received from the SSF and geolocation information received from the GL function;

wherein each of the planes is distinct from one another.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein:

the SM is further configured as a Signal Space Manager (SSM) capable of managing signal space of system in the context of at least one of space, time, frequency, spectrum, modulation, coding, power, and location; and

the SSF is further capable of at least one of clustering of the sensing information and signal classification.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the Cognitive Plane further comprises at least one of:

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the SSF;

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the GL function; and

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the Management Plane;

wherein the one or more Security Sublayers included in the system are used for at least one of;

authentication of detected signals;

authentication of geolocation information;

tamper-proofing SM functionality;

authentication of system co-existence information;

detection and reporting of spurious transmissions;

protection of sensitive information relevant to spectrum availability and/or usage;

scheduling random cognitive communications device sensing to distinguish between a legitimate or malicious activity;

scheduling co-operative sensing via a collection of nodes to distinguish between legitimate and malicious activity; and

finger printing of detected signals.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein the Cognitive Plane further comprises:

a Policy Engine for defining system and network policies; and

a Learning and Reasoning Module for keeping track of at least one of signal behavior, user behavior, system behavior, friendly operators, and malicious operators.

22. The system in claim 18 wherein at least one of the Learning and Reasoning Module, Policy Engine, Spectrum Manager (SM), Spectrum Sensing Function (SSF), and Geolocation (GL) function are implemented as separate modules on a network of the system.

23. A cognitive communications system, comprising:

a Data Plane including Physical (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) Layers operatively coupled to one another;

a Management Plane having one or more management entities for interfacing with the PHY and MAC Layers, and at least one of a Station Management Entity (SME) and a Network Control and Management System (NCMS) for controlling operation of the system;

a Cognitive Plane having a Spectrum Manager (SM), a Spectrum Sensing Function (SSF), and a Geolocation (GL) Function for interfacing with at least one of the management entities and determining whether additional resources including a spectrum are available to enable communication, wherein the SSF is for detecting signals in a given channel and at least one of clustering of the sensing information and signal classification, and the GL function is for providing geolocation information, and the SM determines whether to transmit information on the given channel based on sensing information received from the SSF and geolocation information received from the GL function;

a Policy Engine for defining system and network policies; and

a Learning and Reasoning Module for keeping track of at least one of signal behavior, user behavior, system behavior, friendly operators, and malicious operators;

wherein each of the planes is distinct from one another.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the Cognitive Plane further comprises at least one of:

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the SSF;

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the GL function; and

one or more Security Sublayers between the SM and the Management Plane;

wherein the one or more Security Sublayers included in the system are used for at least one of;

authentication of detected signals;

authentication of geolocation information;

tamper-proofing SM functionality;

authentication of system co-existence information;

detection and reporting of spurious transmissions;

protection of sensitive information relevant to spectrum availability and/or usage;

scheduling random cognitive communications device sensing to distinguish between a legitimate or malicious activity;

scheduling co-operative sensing via a collection of nodes to distinguish between legitimate and malicious activity; and

finger printing of detected signals.