A method and a device for supporting communication between a cognitive communication device and a non-cognitive communication device is provided. The cognitive device can support multiple frequencies and/or can change transmission parameters/characteristics such as the multiple access scheme used. The method includes determining if a communication signal is received from a cognitive communication device. If the communication signal is received from a non-cognitive communication device, a transmission parameter of the communication signal is identified and used to support all communication with the non-cognitive communication device. If the communication signal is received from a non-cognitive communication device, the method may further include determining if the non-cognitive communication device supports communication using packets. If packets are not supported, a wrapping function is selected based on the identified transmission parameter and used to reform the received communication signal into packets before sending the received communication signal to an application. Alternatively, If the communication signal is received from a non-cognitive communication device, a raw streaming socket is selected to send the communication signal from the network interface layer to the application.