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In an effort to improve radio spectrum management and promote a more efficient use of it, regulatory bodies are currently trying to adopt a new spectrum access model. At the same time, cognitive radio technology has received a lot of interest as a possible enabling technology. In this paper, we provide a brief description of the broad impact of cognitive radios in different markets. At Virginia Tech's Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT), we have designed a biologically inspired cognitive engine with dynamic spectrum access (DSA) as one of its intended applications. An experimental software simulation shows a 20 dB SINR improvement using cognitive techniques in an interference environment over that provided by current IEEE 802.11a service PHY standard