ITS: The Nation’s Spectrum and Communications Lab
Our mission is to ADVANCE innovation in communications technologies, INFORM spectrum and communications policy for the benefit of all stakeholders, and INVESTIGATE our Nation’s most pressing telecommunications challenges through research that employees are proud to deliver.
News
January 6, 2025
To make the most efficient use of available bandwidth, how much can speech and video be compressed before the end user perceives them as degraded? ITS’s Audio Quality...
February 25, 2025
Adam Hicks (l.) and Robert Achatz (r.) prepare to leave for McMurdo Station. (Photo credit: USAP)
In December 2024, ITS electronics engineers Robert Achatz and Adam Hicks travelled from ITS’s Boulder laboratory...
October 17, 2024
The inaugural International Open RAN Symposium (IORS) convened September 17–19, 2024, in Golden, Colorado, United States of America. NTIA welcomed over 250 participants at the inaugural Symposium from over 20 countries.
From plenary sessions,...
Recent Publications
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James R. Wait, ed., “Conference on Environmental Effects on Antenna Performance — Proceedings, Vol. I,” Conference Proceedings, August 2025
This volume contains concise versions of most of the papers presented at the Conference on Environmental Effects on Antenna Performance. The papers as printed here were reproduced from the manuscripts supplied by the authors. . . . Volume II will be...
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Margaret H. Pinson et al., “Test Plans, Results, and Lessons Learned About Open RAN Integration During the NTIA 5G Challenges,” Special Publication NTIA SP-25-578, April 2025
The vision of the 5G Challenge competitions was to accelerate adoption of 5G open interfaces, interoperable subsystems, and multi-vendor solutions by fostering a large, vibrant, and growing vendor community dedicated to advancing 5G interoperability...
This Month in ITS History
June 1910: Congress Passes First American Radio Law
On June 28, 1910, Congress passed the Wireless Ship Act (PL 262, 61st Congress). The legislation was prompted by the 1909 wreck of the SS Republic. When the Republic sank, a radio distress call saved 1,200 lives. This law was first in the U.S to regulate radio and applied only to ships carrying 60 or more pa...