This paper introduces the Virginia Tech Center for Wireless Telecommunications' Vehicular Public Safety Cognitive Radio (VPSCR), a vehicle-based extension to our previously fielded cognitive radio prototype for the public safety community. Specifically, the VPSCR can scan the radio spectrum over multiple public safety frequency bands, classify commonly used public safety waveforms and networks, and reconfigure itself for network interoperation. The VPSCR is designed for vehicular assembly, powering itself from the onboard car battery. Such a platform, however, has a significant power requirement, which prevents it from being easily downsized into a handheld mobile device, thereby limiting its mobility. We introduce a new architecture which uses a personal digital assistant (PDA) to remotely control and access services from the VPSCR. Following a modular approach, we designed a remote agent on the VPSCR to advertise services that a PDA can discover and subscribe. This provides a PDA with the capability to remotely control the VPSCR according to a public safety officers own needs. The data link between the PDA and the VPSCR utilizes existing fixed infrastructures such as the 802.11 Wi-Fi or Bluetooth standards, enabling the PDA to extend its operational range.

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