Summary

At the request of the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2021, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine formed the 2022 Panel on Review of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL). The panel met virtually with CTL management and staff to conduct its assessment of the laboratory’s work, facilities, equipment, personnel, portfolios of scientific expertise, and effective dissemination of the results of CTL’s work. The choice of projects to be reviewed was made by CTL. The panel applied a largely qualitative approach to the assessment applying the members’ collective expertise and experience. The following is a summary of the assessment detailed in this report. The assessment relies primarily on information provided by CTL. Time constraints precluded more extensive information gathering and analysis, and these assessment reports are, by their design, at a high level and brief.

TECHNICAL QUALITY OF THE WORK

CTL has staff working in six research focus areas, each of which has achieved noteworthy accomplishments. These include millimeter-wave measurements and modeling; quantum channel metrology; the “campus as a testbed,” which allows NIST to conduct smart grid research; and the delivery of programmable Josephson voltage standards reference instruments. The panel assesses that the technical quality of the work being performed at CTL is of a very high quality.

Work in the Core Network Technologies research focus area is directed toward developing timely and long-term essential aspects of computer networking, both wired and wireless, including resolving systemic vulnerabilities in existing and planned infrastructure and developing new architectures and protocols to improve trustworthiness. The staff working in this area have also worked to promote standards for 6G networks.

Work in the Fundamental Electromagnetic Technologies and Standards (FETS) research area is directed toward guided wave electromagnetics, electromagnetic fields, high-speed waveform metrology, and superconductor electronics. There is focus on crosscutting outcomes that provide solutions to other research focus areas in CTL, along with other laboratories throughout NIST. The work builds on the excellent prior work in metrology that the staff has conducted.

The Next-Generation Wireless research focus area includes a variety of interdisciplinary projects on millimeter-wave instrumentation, 5G New Radio direct mode communication, and spectrum sharing. This program enjoys a very strong reputation in the research community based on its millimeter-wave measurement and modeling work, its contributions to the NextG Channel Alliance, and its valuable contributions to the Citizens Broadband Radio Service standards.

Researchers engaged in the Public Safety Communications Research focus area have supported the deployment of a nationwide First Responder Network (FirstNet), which aims to improve communications for first responders by providing them with priority access to communications networks nationwide. Specific research areas include mission critical voice, location-based services, user interface/user experience, public safety analytics, security, and resilient systems. Many of these areas are crosscutting throughout NIST.

The Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area addresses smart connected manufacturing systems, smart grid programs, the Internet of Things, smart cities and communities, security for operational technologies, and industrial wireless systems. Each of these research areas is fully engaged in the mission of CTL and is represented in relevant industry standards development organizations.

The Spectrum Sensing and Sharing research area addresses microwave noise metrology, radio frequency spectrum sensing, and atmospheric spectroscopy. As the focus areas imply, a wide range of frequencies is covered, and the applications are likewise broad. This program is forward-looking and researchers plan to address challenges in spectrum coexistence, receiver performance characterization, and measuring skyward emissions from 5G systems.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE OF THE STAFF

The technical expertise of the staff in CTL is excellent, is well aligned to their work, and is widely respected by their peers in the field in all research areas discussed during the panel. Although the COVID pandemic presented several challenges to in-person work, CTL implemented multiple measures to minimize the disruptive impact of the pandemic by prioritizing setting up remote equipment so that employees could conduct work offsite.

NIST is an esteemed institution that has been able to attract strong talent based on its reputation alone. However, one of the major personnel challenges that CTL faces is its inability to compete with industry for highly educated technical researchers based on salary. CTL is working with the Office of Personnel Management to institute special pay rates for NIST researchers, as other agencies such as the Department of Defense have done, to increase its ability to attract and retain top talent. NIST also supports teleworking, allowing significant flexibility to its employees.

ADEQUACY OF RESOURCES

As noted in this report, the panel’s assessment was entirely remote, diminishing its ability to meaningfully evaluate CTL’s facilities. However, CTL was clear about the shortcomings of some of its laboratories and other facilities that prevent researchers from realizing their full potential (e.g., Building 24). Building 24 on the Boulder, Colorado, campus has a facilities condition rating of −8 on a scale where 72 out of 100 is considered unacceptable. The information technology (IT) infrastructure in the building is also insufficient; the network bandwidth for the entire building of 20 staff members and 12 research laboratories is only 1 Gb/s. Staff move data physically from one laboratory to another by carrying portable hard drives, which is inefficient. Several facilities have lost power and are unable to maintain stable temperatures within measurement chambers, which causes significant delays and is an inefficient use of the staff’s time and resources. In some instances, researchers spend project money to rectify facility issues. Some buildings (e.g., Building 3) have been newly renovated and enable researchers to conduct

high-quality work. It is clear that, in some instances, poor facility conditions are hampering CTL’s ability to accomplish its mission.

EFFECTIVENESS OF DISSEMINATION OF OUTPUTS

The researchers working in the Core Network Technologies group have been very effective in disseminating their work. They publish in top-tier peer-reviewed journals and have presented a number of invited talks. The Named Data Networking forwarder developed by NIST has been adopted by at least one significant research project.

The researchers in the Fundamental Electromagnetic Technologies and Standards research focus area have delivered five direct current/alternating current quantum-based voltage standards. They have also published over 100 publications in top-tier journals, increasing the visibility of the Rydberg Atom-based Quantum Radio Frequency Field Probe, a technology that has the potential to fundamentally change communications.

The researchers working on Next-Generation Wireless Research have engaged in foreign and domestic collaborations, released code via GitHub, and published their works. They have over 35 publications in high-impact journals, have filed more than three patents, and have successfully commercialized that work.

The researchers in the Public Safety Communications Research focus area have a strong track record in disseminating their results through standards, publications, publicly available data sets, application programming interfaces, and open-source tools. Their yearly stakeholder meeting serves to showcase their results and get feedback from public safety stakeholders representing industry, academia, and federal, state, and local government.

The researchers in the Smart Infrastructure and Manufacturing research focus area have published many collaborative papers and delivered a number of keynote presentations. They also publish conference proceedings, as is typical in this research area.

The researchers in the Spectrum Sharing and Sensing research focus area also have a commendable publication record. As with all of the other research areas, they disseminate their work through high-impact journal publications, conference proceedings, and through conference presentations. They have also been able to translate their technology through NIST programs such as the Technology Maturation Accelerator Program and the NIST Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program.