History of ITS

WWC snapshot of http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/its-hist.html taken on Sat Jun 10 22:18:07 1995

The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS),

located in Boulder, Colorado, is the chief research and engineering arm of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce. ITS employs approximately 120 permanent program staff. Many of these employees bring substantial engineering and scientific backgrounds and skills to our technically oriented programs. Indeed, 65% of our employees are electronics engineers, 8% are mathematicians, 2% are physicists, 6% are computer scientists, and 3% are computer programmers. During FY 93, ITS support consisted of $3.9M of direct funding from Commerce and approximately $8.8M in work sponsored by other Federal agencies and industry.

HISTORY

ITS had its organizational beginning during the 1940's as the Interservice Radio Propagation Laboratory and then later as the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (CRPL), each located within the Commerce Department's National Bureau of Standards. In 1965, CRPL was transferred to the Environmental Science Services Administration and given a new name--Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and Aeronomy (ITSA). In 1967, ITS and the "A" organization were split. ITS was transferred into the newly formed Office of Telecommunications (OT). Finally, under the President's Reorganization Act #1 of 1977, OT and the Office of Telecommunications Policy merged to form NTIA. Since that time, ITS has been responsible for performing telecommunication research programs within NTIA and for providing technical engineering support to other elements of NTIA as well as to other agencies on a reimbursable basis. More recently, ITS has actively pursued cooperative research with industry under the provisions of the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986.

ACTIVITIES

In achieving its mission, the Institute performs state of-the-art telecommunications research, planning, and engineering in each of the following functional areas:

Spectrum Use Analysis.: Performing technical analyses of radio usage in selected frequency bands and preparing U.S. technical positions for use at international spectrum allocation conferences.
Telecommunication Standards Development.: Contributing to and developing Federal, national, and international telecommunication standards.
Telecommunication Svstems Performance.: Forecasting how individual communication elements will perform together and then testing them in a laboratory or operational environment.
Telecommunication Svstems Planning.: Relating needs of end users to the capabilities of a planned network.
Applied Research.: Modeling the way radio waves travel from point to point in various frequency bands and evaluating the way information is carried by radio signals, including modulation and coding.

BENEFITS

The Institute's work significantly benefits both the public and private sectors in several areas, including

Spectrum utilization Optimizing: Federal spectrum allocation methods, identifying available fequencies and potential interference through field measurements, and promoting technology advances aid in more efficient and effective use of the scarce spectrum resource.
Telecommunication negotiations: Developing negotiation support tools such as interference prediction programs and providing expert technical leadership improve the preparation for, and conduct of, telecommunication negotiations at various international conferences.
International trade: Promulgating broadly based, nonrestrictive international telecommunication standards helps to remove technical barriers to U.S. export of telecommunication equipment and services.
Domestic competition: Developing user-oriented, technology-independent methods of specifying and measuring telecommunication performance gives users a practical way of comparing competing equipment and services.
National defense: Improving defense network operation and management, enhancing survivability, expanding network interconnection and interoperation, and improving planning for emergency communications restoral contribute to the strength and cost effectiveness of U.S. national defense forces.
Technology transfer: Making available Institute technology evaluations and application studies hastens and expands the beneficial use of research results for industry in meeting specific user telecommunication needs.

OUTPUTS

Major outputs of the Institute's research and engineering activities include:

Engineering tools and analysis: Predictions of transmission media conditions and equipment performance; test design and data analysis computer programs; complete laboratory and field tests of experimental and operational equipment, systems, or networks.
Standards, Guidelines, and Procedures: Contributions to and development of national and international standards in such areas as network interconnection and interoperation, performance evaluation, and information protection.
Research results: Models for electromagnetic wave propagation, noise, and interference characterization.
Expert services: Training courses and workshops to communicate technology advances and applications to industry and Government users.

ORGANIZATION

To carry out its activities, ITS is divided organizationally into two main program divisions: Spectrum Research and Analysis, and Systems and Networks Research and Analysis. An Executive Office handles administrative matters. Each of the program divisions is further divided into functionally oriented Scientific research and engineering are critical to groups.

Work performed by the Spectrum Division involves analyses directed toward understanding radio wave behavior at various frequencies and determining methods to enhance spectrum utilization.

The Systems and Networks Division focuses on assessing and improving the performance of Government and private sector telecommunication networks, developing domestic and international telecommunication standards for telecommunication networks, and evaluating new technologies for application to future needs. Activities carried out within the two divisions are complementary and often synergistic.