1
History of the Boulder Telecommunications Laboratories
A 2006 National Research Council report observed that “the telecommunications industry remains of crucial importance to the United States as a society, that a strong telecommunications research capability continues to be essential to the health and competitiveness of this U.S. industry internationally, and that the health of this industry strongly affects the U.S. economy in many ways.”1 Recent years have seen particular emphasis on radio-frequency (RF) communications and more efficient use of the RF spectrum.
To contribute to this significant technical area, the DOC operates two telecommunications research laboratories collocated in Boulder, Colorado: NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and the NIST’s Communications Technology Laboratory.
ITS began in the 1940s as the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory (later the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL)) of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). Following a 1960s consolidation with other federal laboratories and subsequent split, it was established as a separate laboratory within the DOC and became part of NTIA when that agency was formed in 1977. ITS is collocated with NIST’s Boulder, Colorado, laboratories, which also conduct telecommunications-related research in such areas as quantum information, electromagnetics, and optoelectronics. As ITS evolved, so did its mission. Radio propagation studies have been the core of the ITS mission since its creation, but it has expanded and contracted over time in somewhat overlapping directions. These include an early expansion into systems engineering and operations research involving wireless systems and into the study and analysis of wireline systems that are critical to public interest. At one point, the laboratories had a greater role in policy formation rather than simply providing technical advice to policy makers.
ITS’s current mission is provided in Box 1.1, and its core area is still radio propagation studies and radio channel model development. However, related areas of research and expertise include enhanced spectrum utilization, radio environment, improvement and optimization of wireline networks, and public safety communications. ITS no longer actively engages in policy research per se; rather, it focuses on providing objective scientific and engineering study to support policy making.
CTL was formed in mid-2014 within NIST and consists of the Boulder Laboratory Director Office, the Communications Test Coordination Office, the Public Safety Communications Research Division, the RF Technology Division, and the Wireless Networks Division (located at NIST in Gaithersburg, Maryland). CTL’s functional statement can be found in Box 1.2. Given its recent start, CTL’s early efforts were focused on operational basics, including acquiring space, hiring personnel, and developing programmatic plans.
CTL has a similar starting point as ITS. When CRPL moved to Boulder in the 1950s, the Radio Physics and Radio Engineering Measurements and Standards divisions were created within the NBS. In 1978, these divisions were renamed the Electromagnetic Fields and Electromagnetic Technology divisions. When NBS became NIST in 1988, the Electromagnetic Fields and Electromagnetic Technology divisions were moved into the Electronic and Electrical Engineering Laboratory. The Electromagnetic
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1 National Research Council, Renewing U.S. Telecommunications Research, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2006, p. 4.
BOX 1.1
ITS Mission Statement
The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) is the research and engineering laboratory of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). ITS performs basic research in radio science, which provides the technical foundation for NTIA’s policy development and spectrum management activities.
ITS research enhances scientific knowledge and understanding in cutting-edge areas of telecommunications technology. The Institute’s research capacity and expertise is used to analyze new and emerging technologies and to contribute to standards creation. Research results are broadly disseminated through peer-reviewed publications as well as through technical contributions and recommendations to standards bodies. ITS staff represent U.S. interests in many national and international telecommunication conferences and standards organizations. Through leadership roles in various working groups, ITS helps to influence development of international standards and policies to support the full and fair competitiveness of the U.S. communications and information technology sectors. ITS research helps to drive innovation and contributes to the development of communications and broadband policies that enable a robust telecommunication infrastructure, ensure system integrity, support e-commerce, and protect an open global Internet.
ITS also serves as a principal Federal resource for solving the telecommunications concerns of other Federal agencies, state and local Governments, private corporations and associations, and international organizations. These problems fall into the areas of communications technology use (including RF, PSTN and IP/IT).
Cooperative research agreements based on the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 are the principal means of aiding the private sector. This Act provides the legal basis for and encourages shared use of Government facilities and resources with the private sector in advanced telecommunications technologies. These partnerships aid in the commercialization of new products and services.
SOURCE: Reprinted from National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, “ITS Mission and History,” http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/about-its/its-missionhistory.aspx, assessed October 26, 2015.
Fields Division includes microwave metrology, broadband microwave technology, fields and interference metrology, and antenna metrology groups. In 2012, the Electronic and Electrical Engineering Laboratory and the Physics Laboratory were combined to create the Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML). CTL combines several research groups from the RF Technology Division of the PML and the Wireless Networks Division of the Information Technology Laboratory.
In 2013, NIST and NTIA signed a memorandum of understanding to create CAC, and the agreement was revised in 2014 to establish that CAC will be co-directed by the ITS and CTL directors.2 Its mission can be found in Box 1.3. CAC has been slow in organizing in part because ITS was without a director for
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2 Memorandum of Understanding between the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for the Intent to Establish a Center for Advanced Communications, May 24, 2013, http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/upload/NIST-NTIA-MOU-CAC.pdf.
BOX 1.2
CTL Functional Statement
The Communications Technology Laboratory promotes the development and deployment of advanced communications technologies, through the conduct of leading edge R&D on both the metrology and understanding of physical phenomena, materials capabilities, complex systems relevant to advanced communications; performs research in high-speed electronics, wireless systems metrology, antennas, advanced optics, network design and optimization, and public safety communications; performs research supporting a multi-level testbed facility, including the development of precision instrumentation, validated test-protocols, models, and simulation tools necessary to support the testing and validation of new communications technologies; leverages key research and engineering expertise and capabilities within NIST Boulder and NTIA’s ITS labs to establish a “Center for Advanced Communications” to provide opportunities for collaborative R&D and access to test-bed resources; has authority and responsibility for the management of the NIST Boulder facilities.
SOURCE: Reprinted from National Institute of Standards and Technology, Program Coordination Office, “Laboratory Planning: Communications Technology Laboratory, FY 2015,” 2014.
BOX 1.3
Mission of the Center for Advanced Communications
The parties contemplate that the mission of the center will include the following:
- Enhancing mission effectiveness of both agencies by better coordinating research and testing functions of NIST and NTIA in the area of advanced communication technology;
- Promoting interdisciplinary research, development, and testing in advanced communications-related areas such as radiofrequency technology, digital information processing, cybersecurity, interoperability, and usability; and
- Providing a single focal point for engaging both industry and other government agencies on advanced communication technologies, including testing, validation, and conformity assessment.
SOURCE: Reprinted from the Memorandum of Understanding between the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for the Intent to Establish a Center for Advanced Communications, May 24, 2013, http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/upload/NISTNTIA-MOU-CAC.pdf.
approximately a year until April 2015, when Keith Grenbam was appointed. Given that ITS did not have a director until recently, much of CAC’s current work has been managed by the CTL director, Kent Rochford. The current agreement only runs through 2016 but provides that “if this limited amount of collaboration is successful, the parties may seek to increase the work of the CAC further.”3
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3 Memorandum of Agreement between the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the Establishment and Operation of the Center for Advanced Communications, U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of the General Counsel, April 11, 2014.
The committee was asked to review CTL’s CAC-related programs (the committee’s statement of task is provided in Appendix A). Although the committee does explore CAC, the focus in Chapter 2 is more on CTL and how its current research agenda addresses future telecommunication needs. Chapter 3 focuses on collaborative efforts between the two laboratories, including CAC, NASCTN, and PSCR, and how these programs support NIST and NTIA missions.4Chapter 4 explores national priorities in telecommunications research and the role in which the Boulder telecommunications laboratories can play, and outlines key areas in which the laboratories could engage to advance federal and industry interests in telecommunications. Box 4.2 examines the capacity of ITS and CTL compared to international telecommunication laboratories, although these laboratories have different missions than the Boulder telecommunications laboratories.