DSA with reinforcement learning in the HF band

Abstract

Using the ionosphere as a passive reflector allows trans-horizon communications in the HF band, which covers the radiofrequency spectrum from 3 to 30 MHz. This band is mainly used for military communications, but also for aeronautical, maritime, and amateur communications. Besides its propagation changeability, the limitation of the HF band is the existence of multiple uncontrolled collisions between users. Even if HF stations use the Automatic Link Establishment protocol (MIL-STD-188-141B), they select their transmission channel according to its internal ranking based only on the channel propagation characteristics. Therefore, we propose to add some adaptability and cognition into the exploitation of the HF band as a good solution to diminish the inefficient use of the band.