How does a Cognitive Radio job look like?

As you have noticed I took a one month vacation of "blog-posting". Now I'm back and I'll try to keep posting regularly again. These days I was curious about the kind of jobs companies are offering related to cognitive radio. While there exist several research positions for PhD students and postdocs, there are not so many open positions from private companies.

Academy is looking for a profile oriented to pure research: knowledge in stochastics, random graph theory, advanced signal processing, optimization... together with an important mathematical background and programming skills. Some of the topics the candidates will work on include:

• Information networks.
• Cross-layer optimization.
• Dynamic Spectrum Allocation Algorithms.
• Throughput analysis for complex wireless networks.
• Reconfigurable MAC-layer.
• Application of cognitive radio techniques to embedded networks.
• Development of Cognitive Engines.
• Network security.
• ...

On the other hand, companies like Qualcomm, Motorola, Mitre Corporation, General Electric or Sabre Systems are looking for a more "practical" profile. Knowledgeable in digital signal processing, experienced in statistical detection and estimation techniques, familiar with PHY and MAC system-level design... tasks offered are for instance:

• Development and evaluation of spectrum management capabilities.
• Development of spectrum sensing techniques.
• Simulations based based on captured signals.
• Integration of complete wireless systems.
• Evaluation of Software Defined Radio (SDR) based technology.
• ...

As we could expect, in the private world the work is much more product oriented than in the academy world, where the practical considerations of implementation and integration are put in a second place. However I find interesting that the profiles required in both industry and academy are somehow similar in terms knowledge and experience.

To finish with, it was unexpected to me the number of openings related with the Department of Defense of the US. While I understand that cognitive radio is a technology with major military applications (reconfigurability, signal detection, adaptability to harsh environmental conditions...), I thought that all these capabilities were already implemented in the military field long time ago.