Jung-Min Park, a researcher at Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering, has received a five-year, $430,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) award to support his efforts to secure cognitive radio technology.

Cognitive radio devices use general purpose processors that run signal handling applications that can change radio frequency, transmission power and other characteristics depending on how the device needs to be used. Cell phones and other conventional wireless devices typically rely on dedicated signal processing hardware. (Rutgers University’s WINLAB is also exploring cognitive radio technologies)

“It is envisioned that cognitive radio technology will be used for two-way communications in a wide range of applications, such as communication systems for tactical military forces and emergency responders,” said Park, in a statement.

The IEEE 802.22 standard is also in the works for cognitive radio technology used for rural wireless access.

In general, the flexibility of cognitive radio systems is seen as a possible solution to overcrowding of some spectrum space, since these devices can make do with whatever spectrum is available. (Speaking of spectrum, the FCC just wrapped up its long-running 700MHz spectrum auction )

But Park’s concern is that as cognitive radio networks gain in popularity, they will become bigger hacker targets. That’s where his research will focus.

Park, who is director of the Laboratory for Advanced Research in Information Assurance and Security at Virginia Tech , will develop undergraduate and graduate courses in cognitive radio systems.