Cognitive Information Measurements: A New Perspective

From a traditional point of view, the value of information does not change during transmission. The Shannon information theory considers information transmission as a statistical phenomenon for measuring the communication channel capacity. However, in modern communication systems, information is spontaneously embedded with a cognitive link during the transmission process, which requires a new measurement that can incorporate continuously changing information value. In this paper, we introduce the concept of cognitive information value and a method of measuring such information. We first describe the characteristics of cognitive information followed by an introduction of the concept of cognitive information in measuring information popularity. The new measurement is based on the mailbox principle in the information value chain. This is achieved by encapsulating the information as a mailbox for transmission where the cognition is continuously implemented during the transmission process. Finally, we set up a cognitive communication system based on a combination of the traditional communication system and cognitive computing. Experimental results attest to the impact of incorporating cognitive value in the performance of 5G networks.