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Communications Technology Laboratory

Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 152
cell on wheels LTE coverage pscr

700 MHz In-Building Coverage App & Measurement System Development

Ongoing
During the period of 2013-2014, PSCR researchers performed investigations of Band-14 LTE in-building coverage at selected sites on the campus of the University of Colorado. PSCR performed extensive sets of measurements, obtained valuable information and insight about in-building coverage issues, and

Adaptive Closed-Box Interference Susceptibility Testing

Ongoing
Our approach combines state-of-the-art testbed automation, RF metrology, data analytics, and machine learning to develop flexible, broad-purpose methods that will enable efficient, rigorous testing. Specifically, we plan to establish methods for experimental characterization of closed-box

Advanced DDoS Mitigation Techniques

Ongoing
Background In recent years the threat of DDoS) attacks on the Internet seems to be significantly increasing. The rapidly growing threat can be characterized by the orders of magnitude increases in the bandwidth of such attacks (from 100s of millions bits per second, to 100s of billions bits per

Advanced Materials Metrology

Ongoing
Electromagnetic devices cannot operate without the interaction of electromagnetic waves with materials, and the characterization of the interface between fields and materials will be a critical task for any device or metrology development from nanoscale to larger scales. Areas of impact over the
digital meter

Advanced Metering in Smart Distribution Grids

Completed
Objective: To advance measurement science for the performance of smart meters and associated metering standards and test procedures that will enable accurate and fair electricity metering needed for the smart grid, by 2016. What is the new technical idea? This project will develop test procedures

Advanced Security Architectures for Next Generation Wireless

Ongoing
The US Government, and the Department of Commerce in particular, has identified the development and commercialization of Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) technologies as a strategic priority in the evolution of next-generation wireless networks and a key enabler for the US IT industry to increase

Advanced Waveform Co-Channel Interference

Ongoing
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spectrum auctions in 2015, resulted in significant rule changes to former federal spectrum bands, causing incumbent federal users to abandon, or share frequency allocations with commercial users. With these changes in licensed spectrum use and associated
The NIST millimeter-wave extrapolation range being prepared for antenna measurements.

Antenna Metrology Project

Ongoing
NIST CTL’s Antenna Metrology Project combines theoretical models, analytical tools, and custom-developed facilities to advance the field of antenna measurement and share those advances with industry, government, and academic users. Two generations ago, NIST pioneered the near-field scanning

Asynchronous Cooperative Linear Dispersion Coding

Completed
The space–time block coding (STBC) techniques provide full spatial diversity in the context of collocated multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) systems, requiring reliable wireless communications at high rates. However, it may not always be practical to accommodate multiple antennas at the mobile
Operating Envelope Specification supports automated driving safety measurement, key to testing and public acceptance of automated vehicles

Automated Vehicles and AV Communications

Ongoing
Automated vehicles (AVs), or Automated Driving Systems-equipped (ADS-equipped) vehicles, have great potential to improve our lives by freeing us from the stress of driving and reducing accidents caused by distractions or poor judgement. Connected, reliable, and safe AVs will spark significant
NIST engineer Kate Remley led development of new 94 gigahertz calibrated signal source and 16-antenna array operating at 83 gigahertz

5G & Beyond

Ongoing
The realization of this long-term vision requires tackling key technical challenges to allow for greater temporal, spectral, coding and spatial resource efficiency. As well, these technologies all rely on high levels of electronic device integration, yielding a radical new connectorless measurement
Long_Feature_Image

Bringing the SI to Global Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Measurement

Ongoing
This multifaceted program leverages expertise in three complementary technical focus areas- all of which involve SI-traceable measurements of relevant atmospheric species such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and oxygen. The efforts include gravimetrically based preparation of primary
On-wafer calibration kits

CalNet

Ongoing
Electronics engineers use on-wafer calibration die to calibrate measurement equipment before characterizing or modeling semiconductor devices. While NIST pioneered on-wafer calibrations in the 1990’s, most industrial labs use commercial ‘Impedance Standard Substrates’ (ISS) that are manufactured by

CBRS Sharing Ecosystem Assessment

Ongoing
Background: In 2020, FCC auction 105 auctioned licenses in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). CBRS (3.55 GHz to 3.7 GHz) has a three-tiered framework to accommodate shared federal and non-federal use of the band. The DoD 3.5 GHz Transition Plans focus on ecosystem validations
Keypoint and RF Channel Extraction

RF Channel Propagation Measurements and Models for Communications Circuits

Ongoing
The research community has long identified the need for propagation measurements to develop and evaluate communication circuits. Since 2011, NIST has been to prototyping state-of-the-art channel sounders for measuring RF channel propagation. NIST current channel sounders include LIDAR and camera
USS George H.W. Bush equipped with air traffic control radar system operating in the 3.5 GHz band

Citizens Broadband Radio Service

Ongoing
The FCC Part 96 rules establish a three-tier architecture for sharing the radiofrequency (RF) spectrum from 3550 MHz to 3700 MHz. Commercial users of the 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band will share this spectrum with existing incumbents, including the federal government which

Collaborative Microgrid for Smart Buildings

Completed
Currently, the idea of designing collaborative smart buildings is becoming a real challenge. Indeed, the emergence of smart grids and the growing use of smart household appliances is the main driving force behind the use of demand side management. This would require developing an efficient control

Composition in IoT/CPS

Completed
One approach develops a ‘CPS algebra’ based on a formal language that offers the expressive power needed to capture the observable behavior of Cyber-Physical System (CPS) components, and at the same time offers a way to express the notion of composition of CPSs. A second effort extends the in

Cooperative Diversity Routing and Transmission for Wireless Sensor Networks

Completed
In order to address the challenges of cooperation, PHY layer cooperation schemes were proposed and, to a limited extent, medium access control (MAC) layer schemes. On the network layer, the network coding techniques can be viewed as a form of cooperation as well. To the best of our knowledge, there

Cooperative vs Non-Cooperative Diversity in Space, Time and Frequency

Completed
Broadband communication plays an increasingly important role in meeting the growing demand for high-speed multimedia transmissions in our daily lives. However, when the bandwidth of a signal exceeds the coherent bandwidth of the wireless channel, the small-scale fading imposed on the signal becomes

Cooperative Single-Carrier FDMA Communications

Completed
The worldwide growth in both the number of mobile subscribers and their demand for increased rate mobile broadband services provided further impetus for the mobile telecommunication operators to improve both the capacity and the reliability of cellular networks. When communicating over broadband

5G/6G Core Networks and Services

Ongoing
The main tasks of this program are: Task 1: 6G Core Network Architecture: I nvestigating AI-native architectures that not just execute AI/ML-based network functions but also support the creation, management, cooperation, measurement, and evolution of these functions. Task 2: Key Technologies Task 2
5G Core Network Testbed Project

5G Core Networks Testbed

Ongoing
This project, as part of our 6G Core and Edge Networks and Services Project, is building a 5G/6G Core Network Testbed— which we refer to as OpenCoreNet—to support research on sixth generation (6G) networks and to explore how 6G can best improve industry applications. OpenCoreNet focuses on core

COVID-19 Spectrum Occupancy Project

Ongoing
Collected from residential teleworking sites, hospitals, and public safety networks across the Colorado Front Range, the data will help CTL understand trends in spectrum usage during national emergencies. Gathered data will also work towards investment in the broader development of an infrastructure