When NIST was born in 1901, Morse code was all the rage. Today’s communications choices are a bit more varied: telephones, mobile phones, beepers, fax, e-mail, web pages, hand-held computers, and more.

New products need supporting technologies to enter the mainstream: smaller circuits, clearer reception, better optics, faster modems. NIST strives to provide new measurement methods well ahead of industry’s production needs. This helps ensure that lack of quality control and measurement know-how does not limit U.S. technological innovation.

Next