The Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2) was a DARPA Grand Challenge that sought to overcome scarcity in the radio frequency spectrum through applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Competitors were challenged to build radio modems that could self-optimize by learning from and adapting to their RF environment, while simultaneously sharing resources with other spectrum tenants. Known in academic communities as cognitive radio, SC2 sought to spark innovation that would reduce this theory to practice.

Agitator is home to DARPA Spectrum Collaboration Challenge team How Make Radio. Its name is both an homage to anyone who has ever posted a basic question to the GNU Radio mailing list, as well as an acknowledgement of the scrappy nature of the self-funded team with no professional or academic affiliations.

How Make Radio's technology applies online learning techniques to model and prioritize data flows in real time. Combined with an adaptive-rate FDM PHY, this allows for packet delivery while using the minimum viable spectrum resources.

How Make Radio's principals qualified as SC2 Finalists in 2019, outperforming funded full-time teams from a range of professional and academic institutions to earn this distinction. They look forward to exploring applications of cognitive radio principles to the development of secure and resilient wireless communication systems beyond SC2.