A cognitive radio is a transceiver which is aware of its environment, its own technical capabilities and limitations, and those of the radios with which it may communicate; is capable of acting on that awareness and past experience to configure itself in a way that optimizes its performance; and is capable of learning from experience. In a real sense, a cognitive radio is an intelligent communications system that designs and redesigns itself in real time.

'Cognitive Radio Engineering by Charles W. Bostian, Nicholas J. Kaminski, and Almohanad S. Fayez is an excellent overview of all aspects of cognitive radio. While the book draws most of its examples from work done at Virginia Tech, the scope of the book is comprehensive. Its eight chapters lead readers from the the basic definition of a cognitive radio through cognitive radio hardware and software and finally into the performance evaluation and application of cognitive radio.'
-- IEEE Microwave

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Cognitive Engine Design
• Chapter 3: RF Platforms for Cognitive Radio
• Chapter 4: Cognitive Radio Computation and Computational Platforms
• Chapter 5: Integrating and Programming RF and Computational Platforms for Cognitive Radio
• Chapter 6: Cognitive Radio Evaluation
• Chapter 7: Cognitive Radio Design for Networking
• Chapter 8: Cognitive Radio Applications