PUBLIC SAFETY
CTL works with a diverse innovation ecosystem to help solve public safety’s most critical communication technology gaps and drive innovation forward. NIST CTL’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Division serves as the headquarters for the CTL Public Safety Program, bringing together research, development, testing, and evaluation expertise from across NIST, other government agencies, and the private sector to address the challenges of nationwide public safety communications interoperability. Drawing on critical requirements provided by public safety practitioners, the CTL Public Safety Program provides insight to wireline and wireless standards committees developing standards for voice, data, image, and video communications.
METROLOGY FOR ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS
CTL Divisions work closely together to develop theory, metrology, standards, and testing for the development and deployment of the technologies upon which the future of wireless communications depends. These activities fall into three main program areas: Trusted Spectrum Testing, Next Generation (5G & Beyond) Wireless, and Fundamental Metrology for Communications. The divisions continue to invent new ways to accomplish this mission, including the world’s first robotic-arm antenna testing system, state-of-the-art channel models for complex environments, electro-optic sampling for on-chip metrology, and quantum field probe for electric field strength measurements, among others. The National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (NASCTN) provides robust trusted spectrum testing processes and validated measurement data necessary to develop, evaluate and deploy spectrum sharing technologies that can increase access to the spectrum by both Federal agencies and non-federal spectrum users. The RF Technology research portfolio spans on-chip measurements of the transistors that generate wireless signals, the testing of free-field signals and the antennas that send and receive them, and the characterization of the integrated circuits that receive and process signals. The Wireless Networks Division specializes in communications networks and protocols as well as in the digital communications technologies that make those networks possible. Division staff perform both theoretical and empirical research to develop simulation models, experimental testbeds, and proof-of-concept prototypes that are used to evaluate new technologies and to refine existing standard specifications for wireless networks and systems.
