I, base station: Cognisant robots and future wireless access networks

The idea of a completely independent, self-healing, self-deploying, and self-optimising communication network is an appealing one. This paper outlines why financial pressures will drive wireless communication networks towards the adoption of autonomic systems with the above characteristics, that will eventually become cognisant, exhibiting some degree of self- awareness. As a step in this direction, we explore the concept of robotic wireless base stations and discuss their behaviour subject to principles inspired by Asimov's Laws of Robotics. Finally, a discussion of how such laws would be applicable in current and future scenarios is presented.