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. Learn more about ITS on our YouTube Channel or read about our research programs in the Technical Progress Report.

News

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...

April 1, 2024

ITS, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense’s FutureG Office, hosted the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) Forum in Dallas, Texas, from March 26 to 28.

The 2024 RIC Forum brought government, military, telecommunications...

Recent Publications

This Month in ITS History

November 1920: First Scheduled Commercial Radio Broadcast

On November 2, 1920 Frank Conrad broadcast the election results from the Harding-Cox election (Harding won 37 of 48 states). Conrad was a ham radio operator who worked with radio manufacturer Westinghouse to set up KDKA in Pittsburgh. It was the first of its kind, but it echoed the successes of the National Bureau of Standards (BS) WWV station which had begun occasional experimental broadcasts in May. KDKA’s broadcast was a success, and soon radio stations were popping up all around the country. The NBS Radio Section supported the booming industry. Radio Section researchers tested materials for radio parts, and antenna shapes. At the request of broadcasters, they created standards for radio ...

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