A Systematic Literature Review: Is Military Cognitive Radio System on the Brink of the “Valley of Death”?

Cognitive radio (CR) was coined to address evolving user needs two decades ago. Since then, it also has been considered a way to mitigate perceived spectrum scarcity in various application areas. In this article, the status of military CR research is assessed through a systematic literature review of 193 articles, from 2013 to 2020, using IEEE thematic topics, technology readiness levels, as well as comprehensive capability meta-model as analytical frameworks. The annual distribution of military CR research indicates continuing interest. The military CR research seems to be prolific on topics like waveform design and security, not forgetting a steady interest in CR networking topics. Significantly low numbers of papers address applications, services, and standardization. In general, military CR research seemed sporadic and scattered. Our data suggest that a transition from individual techniques, component-level subsystem research in the direction of systems engineering approach, and system-level studies has not yet happened, and the overall TRLs remain low. The absence of publicly articulated comprehensive treatment of the notion of military cognitive radio system is graphic and has led to disjointed, scattered research at the subsystem level.