IGF::OT::IGF THE COGNITIVE COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT IS A COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FUNDED BY THE SPACE COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION PROGRAM WITHIN THE HUMAN EXPLORATION AND OPERATIONS MISSION DIRECTORATE (HEOMD) AT NASA HEADQUARTERS (HQ). THE PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT IS TO IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP NEXT-GENERATION COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENHANCE USER DATA RETURN AND/OR REDUCE OPERATIONS COST, WITH A SPECIFIC FOCUS TOWARDS APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING. COGNITIVE COMMUNICATIONS OPERATES THE SCAN TESTBED, WHICH IS A SOFTWARE-DEFINED RADIO (SDR) PAYLOAD INSTALLED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS). SCAN TESTBED INCLUDES BOTH A FLIGHT SYSTEM AND A GROUND SYSTEM KNOWN AS THE GROUND INTEGRATION UNIT (GIU). SCAN TESTBED CONTAINS 3 SDRS WITH LINUX AND VXWORKS OPERATING SYSTEMS, AN AVIONICS COMPUTER RUNNING VXWORKS, AND A VARIETY OF RF HARDWARE. THIS SOW FOCUSES ON ONE ASPECT OF THE COGNITIVE COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT: DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENT ROUTING AND NETWORKING CAPABILITIES, ALSO KNOWN AS NASA INTELLIGENT ROUTING (NITRO). THE NITRO CAPABILITY IS ENVISIONED AS AN EXTENSION OF EXISTING INTERNET PROTOCOL, DELAY TOLERANT, AND SECURE NETWORKING CAPABILITIES. SPECIFICALLY, NITRO ENVISIONS A NETWORK WHICH IS ADAPTIVE, AUTONOMOUS, OPTIMIZED ACROSS NETWORK LAYERS, SECURE, AND SCALABLE. SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKING IS AN APPROACH THAT HAS GREAT POTENTIAL TOWARD THESE GOALS, AND ITS CONCEPTS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED.