>> Registration closes August 3rd! <<

The International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART)™ is a U.S. government–sponsored conference hosted by the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS), the science and engineering laboratory of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a bureau of the Department of Commerce (DOC). ISART is a science and engineering discussion-based conference that brings together government, industry, and academic leaders (both domestic and international) for the purpose of forecasting the development and application of advanced radio technologies.

For over two decades, ISART has contributed scientific and technical input towards encouraging sound, forward-looking spectrum management and regulatory policies that rely on careful engineering and ground-breaking research. The focus of ISART is to engage in a wide-ranging technical discussion. ISART does not represent NTIA policy positions.

This year’s conference opens a multi-year exploration into the “next major breakthrough” in spectrum capacity. ISART 2026 asks: What innovations will allow us to maximize spectrum use to meet demands from a vast and growing array of uses?

ISART™ 2026: Sketching a Spectrum Management Blueprint

August 11–13, 2026 | Boulder, Colorado, USA, and virtually

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ISART 2026 Themes

• Data Foundations for AI/ML — defining, collecting, and standardizing the datasets needed to enable advanced AI/ML models for spectrum management.
• AI/ML Applications for Autonomous Spectrum Operations — developing tools that enable systems to operate cooperatively and avoid interference across commercial, federal, and mixed-use environments.
• Hardware Evolutions for Next-Generation Spectrum Use — examining sensor fusion, radio architectures, and innovations necessary to support the long-term goal of dynamic spectrum use.

Why Participate?

ISART brings together government, industry, and academic leaders (both domestic and international) to tackle the most complex spectrum challenges through collaborative, technically rigorous dialogue. ISART 2026 will set the stage for aligning technical advances, data approaches, and policy considerations around future spectrum systems. By attending, you will have the opportunity to actively contribute to and shape the future of spectrum.

Event Details

• Dates: August 11–13, 2026
• Venue: Embassy Suites by Hilton, 2601 Canyon Boulevard, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Key Contributors

General Chair

David Goldstein, NTIA-ITS

Technical Co-Chairs

Shariq Ashfaq, NTIA-ITS

Robert Ballard, NTIA-ITS

Ryan McCullough, NTIA-ITS

Jaden Pieper, NTIA-ITS

Technical Program Committee

Prasanth Ananth, Nokia Bell Labs

Kumar Balachandran, Ericsson

Charles Bayliss, Austin Egbert, Baylor University
Marla Dowell, EDGE Consortium, Dartmouth College

Amit Mukhopadhyay, Verizon

Neeti Tandon, AT&T

Martin Weiss, Joshua Weaver, Future G Office, OUSW(R&E), DoW

Agenda and Speakers

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

09:00–09:10	Welcome / Introduction	David Goldstein, NTIA-ITS Jeremy Glenn, NTIA-ITS (emcee)
09:10–09:35	Keynote: Sketching a Spectrum Management Blueprint: Applying AI/ML and Hardware	Tricia Paoletta, NTIA
09:35–10:00	Opening Remarks: Conference Overview	David Goldstein, NTIA-ITS
10:00–10:30	Break
10:30–10:45	Opening Remarks: Day #1 Overview	Technical Co-Chair, NTIA-ITS
10:45–12:00	Panel: Defining the Data Problem for AI/ML in Spectrum	Robert Ballard, NTIA-ITS (moderator) Andrew Clegg, Valo Analytica John Chapin, Silicon Flatirons Troy Orwan, NTIA-OSM Ryan Dreifuerst, MITRE
12:00–13:30	Lunch
13:30–14:00	Technical Talk: Lessons from Existing Spectrum Datasets	Todd Schumann, NTIA-ITS Aric Sanders, NIST-CTL
14:00–14:30	Technical Talk: Data Collection, Standardization, and Public Access	Curtis Watson, MITRE
14:30–15:00	Break
15:00–16:15	Panel: Evaluation Frameworks for ML versus Classical Solutions	Kumar Balachandran, Ericsson (moderator) Nada Golmie, NIST Kaushik Chowdhury, University of Texas – Austin Danijela Cabric, UCLA Aleksander Damjanovich, Qualcomm
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
09:00–09:15	Opening Remarks: Day #2 Overview	Technical Co-Chair, NTIA-ITS
09:15–10:00	Fireside Chat: Autonomous Spectrum Management: Vision and Reality	Lynna McGrath, NTIA Michael Ha, FCC
10:00–10:30	Break
10:30–11:00	Technical Talk: Cognitive Radio: A Brief History and Discussion of Recent Advancements	Monisha Ghosh, University of Notre Dame
11:00–11:30	Technical Talk: From Sensing to Sharing: AI-Optimized Sensing Networks for Dynamic Spectrum Occupancy Prediction	Roy Sun, CableLabs
11:30–12:00	Technical Talk: Training Aggregate Transmitter-Receiver Interference Classifiers	Robert Ballard, NTIA-ITS Bradley Eales, NTIA-ITS
12:00–13:30	Lunch
13:30–14:30	Data Sharing Workshop Part 1: Identifying Challenges and Brainstorming	Technical Co-Chairs, NTIA-ITS
14:30–15:00	Break
15:00–16:30	Data Sharing Workshop Part 2: Building Consensus	Technical Co-Chairs, NTIA-ITS
Thursday, August 13, 2026
09:00–09:15	Opening Remarks: Day #3 Overview	Technical Co-Chair, NTIA-ITS
09:15–09:30	Technical Talk: Physics-informed ML for Propagation Modeling	Raj Shukla, Brown University
09:30–10:00	Technical Talk: Emerging Hardware Architectures for AI-enabled Spectrum Systems	Ryan Montoya, University of Colorado Boulder
10:00–10:30	Break
10:30–11:45	Panel: Enabling Spectrum Agility: Hardware Requirements and Research	Austin Egbert, Baylor University (moderator) Dimitrios Peroulis, Purdue University Brian Phelan, Army Research Laboratory Patrick McCormick, University of Kansas
11:45–13:15	Lunch
13:15–14:00	Technical Talk: One Aperture, One Solution: Wideband Active Antenna Performance Across 600 MHz to 7 GHz	Mark Reudink, Battelle
14:00–15:15	Panel: AI-RAN in Practice: Testbeds, Hardware enablement, and the path to 6G	Shariq Ashfaq, NTIA-ITS (moderator) Venki Ramaswamy, MITRE Michele Polese, Northeastern University/x5G TestBed Honwei Zhang, Iowa State University Aloizio Da Silva, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, Virginia Tech
15:15–15:45	Break
15:45–16:15	Keynote: Retrospective: 20 years of Marketplace Forces in Spectrum Management	Dale Hatfield, Silicon Flatirons David Goldstein, NTIA-ITS (Q&A moderator)
16:15–16:30	Wrap-up discussion / Next steps	David Goldstein, NTIA-ITS