IEEE DySPAN is the premier conference to discuss, publish and present recent advancements in Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) and Cognitive Radio, including novel approaches and technologies enabling more efficient use of the radio spectrum. There has been tremendous progress in the research, development and regulatory acceptance of DSA in recent years and the organizers of IEEE DySPAN 2012 encourage submissions that exhibit recent success stories and research results. The special themes for 2012 are advanced spectrum engineering and regulatory approaches, novel spectrum sharing methods and policies, and systems oriented research.

IEEE DySPAN 2012, like its predecessors, is a unique symposium that gathers the technology and regulatory policy communities together. In addition to program tracks for technology and policy papers, the conference will hold system demonstrations, panels, and tutorials that are tailored for special audiences such as regulators and industry. The conference will also host several keynote sessions given by leaders of the technology and policy communities.

IEEE DySPAN 2012 welcomes contributions dealing with regulatory aspects of dynamic spectrum access, theoretical studies, algorithm and protocol design for cognitive radios and networks, as well as application-oriented contributions dealing with architectures, platforms, signaling and multiple access schemes. We are particularly looking for papers reporting on systems aspects and prototypes, summaries of regulatory options and advancements, spectrum measurements and analysis of white space opportunities, and business cases for advanced spectrum engineering. We invite contributions outlining advances in self-optimization, learning, and context sensitivity of cognitive radios, and DSA concepts that consider a complete network and describe novel optimization schemes.

We seek original and unpublished work not currently under review by any other technical journals/magazines/conferences, but welcome opportunities for interdisciplinary teams to present previous policy work to the technical audience. We seek technology and policy topics including, but not limited to, the following:

TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM
• Spectrum measurement and models
• Architecture and platform for dynamic spectrum access networks
• Efficient and broadband spectrum sensing
• Spectrum sensing mechanisms and protocol support
• Interference metrics and measurements
• Radio resource management and dynamic spectrum access networks
• Applications of DSA
• New spectrum sharing models
• Multiple access schemes for cognitive radio networks
• Cross-layer optimization for cognitive radio networks
• Information-theoretic aspects of cognitive radio networks
• QoS provisioning and MAC protocol
• Trust and security issues
• Experimental prototypes and results

POLICY PROGRAM
• Business models and pricing for dynamic spectrum access
• Market trends for secondary spectrum usage
• Regulatory models for dynamic spectrum access
• Software regulation / standardization and equipment certification
• Industrial and government role in dynamic spectrum access
• Dynamic spectrum auctions and economics
• Spectrum etiquettes and coexistence models
• Defining / enforcing rights and responsibilities of spectrum licensees and easements