The DARPA Spectrum Challenge was a competition held by the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Adv ...
to demonstrate a radio protocol that can best use a given
communication channel
A communication channel refers either to a physical transmission medium such as a wire, or to a logical connection over a multiplexed medium such as a radio channel in telecommunications and computer networking. A channel is used for inform ...
in the presence of other dynamic users and
interfering signals.
The Challenge was not focused on developing new radio hardware, but instead was targeted at finding strategies for guaranteeing successful communication in the presence of other radios that may have conflicting co-existence objectives. The Challenge entailed head-to-head competitions between each team's radio protocol and an opponent's in a structured wireless
testbed
A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies.
The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental rese ...
environment, known as ORBIT, that is maintained by the Wireless Information Network Laboratory (WINLAB) at Rutgers University.
The Challenge awarded first place teams in the September 2013 preliminary event, and first and second place teams in the March 2014 final event with cash prizes totaling $200,000. Each event consisted of a Competitive and Cooperative Tournament.
Qualifying Teams
Out of the 90 teams that registered for the Spectrum Challenge, the top 18 teams were selected to compete in the Preliminary and Final Event:
References
DARPA
Virginia Tech
Challenge awards
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