Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Communications Technology Laboratory

RF Technology Division

News and Updates

Keyword

Topic Area

Two Robots Are Better than One for NIST’s 5G Antenna Measurement Research

April 16, 2018

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) continue to pioneer new antenna measurement methods, this time for future 5G wireless...

a rectangular block of wood covered in green with markings, 2 bolts and 2 screws

NIST ‘Noise Thermometry’ Yields Accurate New Measurements of Boltzmann Constant

June 29, 2017

By measuring the random jiggling motion of electrons in a resistor, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have contributed to...

Noise, Temperature, and the New SI

November 15, 2016

NIST has recently made substantial improvements to its Johnson-noise thermometry system, which is playing a vital role in the worldwide effort to determine the...

NIST Invents Fleet and Fast Test for Nanomanufacturing Quality Control

March 4, 2016

Manufacturers may soon have a speedy and nondestructive way to test a wide array of materials under real-world conditions, thanks to an advance that researchers...

Robot Adds New Twist to NIST Antenna Measurements and Calibrations

November 30, 2015

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been pioneering antenna measurement methods for decades, but a new robot may be the ultimate...

NIST Technique Could Make Sub-wavelength Images at Radio Frequencies

June 17, 2014

Imaging and mapping of electric fields at radio frequencies (RF)* currently requires the use of metallic structures such as dipoles, probes and reference...

High-Tech Measurements for High-Frequency Antennas

November 14, 2013

A team of researchers at NIST's Antenna Metrology Lab in Boulder, CO has devised a first-of-its-kind system – combining a precision 3-meter industrial robot arm...

Perfect Faults: A Self-Correcting Crystal May Unleash the Next Generation of Advanced Communications

November 5, 2013

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have joined with an international team to engineer and measure a potentially...

Quantum Voltage Standard Delivered to BIPM

October 17, 2013

A PML team has delivered a state-of-the-art 10 V voltage standard to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), where it will serve as the...

NIST Tests in New York City Suggest How to Improve Emergency Radio Communications

April 17, 2013

Radio communications can be unreliable in underground tunnels and other large, complicated structures, posing a safety hazard for emergency responders. New...

NIST Engineer Remley Named IEEE Fellow

December 12, 2012

Kate A. Remley, an engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics...

New High Standards for Emergency Wireless Devices

July 27, 2012

First responders rely increasingly on wireless communication devices, and in emergencies they cannot afford major signal loss or delay caused by attenuation...

Toward a Global Microwave Standard

February 6, 2012

Much of what is known about decadal climate change – and much of what appears on the evening weather forecast as well – comes from satellite-based remote...

NIST engineer Kate Remley holds two Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) devices with wireless alarm capability.

NIST Tests Help Ensure Reliable Wireless Alarm Beacons for First Responders

August 16, 2011

Wireless emergency safety equipment could save lives—if signals are transmitted reliably. But few performance standards exist. Now, tests at the National...

NIST Tunes 'Metasurface' with Fluid in New Concept for Sensing and Chemistry

June 7, 2011

Like an opera singer hitting a note that shatters a glass, a signal at a particular resonant frequency can concentrate energy in a material and change its...

Photo of NIST team conducting wireless communication tests in Denver

Call Forwarding: New NIST Procedure Could Speed Cell Phone Testing

March 2, 2010

By accurately re-creating the jumbled wireless signal environment of a city business district in a special indoor test facility, researchers at the National...

Engineered Metamaterials Enable Remarkably Small Antennas

January 26, 2010

In an advance that might interest Q-Branch, the gadget makers for James Bond, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and partners from...

New Automated Technique with Online Verification Eases Network Analyzer Calibration

December 15, 2009

Verifying the accuracy of network analyzers--instruments that are used to measure key performance characteristics of electronic networks--was once an awkward...

Testing equipment being used by NIST scientists in recent research mapping radio frequency penetration of airframes, in this case a Boeing 737-200.

Penetrating Insights: NIST Airframe Tests Help Ensure Better Shielding for Flight Instruments

August 25, 2009

Airline travelers are used to being instructed to turn off computers and cell phones during takeoffs and landings as a precaution against interfering with the...

Random Antenna Arrays Boost Emergency Communications

February 24, 2009

First responders could boost their radio communications quickly at a disaster site by setting out just four extra transmitters in a random arrangement to...

New Report on NIST Tests of Wireless Environment in Auto Factories

October 14, 2008

A new report describes tests carried out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the wireless environment in automotive manufacturing...

Electronics engineer Dennis Camell aligns antennas in an old California silica mine for a NIST study identifying optimal frequencies for radio signal transmissions in tunnels.

Emergency Links: NIST Identifies 'Sweet Spot' for Radios in Tunnels

May 13, 2008

As part of a project to improve wireless communications for emergency responders, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have...

The NIST terahertz imaging system reveals slight temperature differences, as shown in this post-processed image.

Prototype Terahertz Imager Promises Biochem Advances

April 15, 2008

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new imaging system that detects naturally occurring terahertz...

NIST Finds 'Metafilms' Can Shrink Radio, Radar Devices

March 18, 2008

Recent research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has demonstrated that thin films made of "metamaterials"—manmade composites...

NIST electrical engineers Chris Holloway and Galen Koepke place transmitters in a protected air vent at the old Washington Convention Center prior to the implosion of the building.

Experiments at Demolition of Old Washington Convention Center Aim to Improve First Responder Communications

December 15, 2004

Experiments aimed at improving emergency radio communications will be performed by researchers from the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards...

Was this page helpful?

Advanced communications
-Open Radio Access Network (Open-RAN)
-Quantum communications
-Spectrum sharing
-Wireless (RF)
Artificial intelligence
-AI measurement and evaluation
-Autonomous systems
--Automated vehicles
--Autonomous laboratories
-Applied AI
-Fundamental AI
-Hardware for AI
-Machine learning
-Trustworthy and responsible AI
Bioscience
-Bioeconomy
--Biological data
-Bioimaging
-Bioinformatics
-Biomanufacturing
-Biomaterials
-Biometrology
-Biosecurity
--Biosurveillance
--Genomic cybersecurity
--Nucleic acid sequence screening
-Cell measurements
-Engineering / synthetic biology
--Biofabrication
--Cell-free systems
--Genome engineering
--Protein engineering
-Gene delivery systems
-Genome editing
-Genomics
-Glycomics
-Metabolomics
-Microbial measurements
-Proteomics
Buildings and Construction
-Building codes and standards
-Building control systems
-Building damage and repair
-Building economics
-Building materials
-Energy efficiency
-Heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment
-Indoor air quality
-Structural engineering
-Thermal comfort
Chemistry
-Analytical chemistry
-Chemical engineering and processing
-Chemical thermodynamics and chemical properties
-Molecular characterization
-Theoretical chemistry and modeling
-Thermochemical properties
Electronics
-Electromagnetics
-Flexible electronics
-Magnetoelectronics
-Optoelectronics
-Organic electronics
-Semiconductors
-Sensors
-Superconducting electronics
Energy
-Alternative energy
-Conventional energy
-Electric power / smart grid
-Fuels
Environment
-Air / water / soil quality
-Climate Measurements
-Environmental health
-Greenhouse gas measurements
-Marine science
-Sustainability
Fire
-Fire detection
-Fire dynamics and science
-Fire fighting
-Fire modeling
-Fire risk reduction
-Materials flammability
-Structural fire resistance
-Wildland urban interface fire
Forensic Science
-Digital evidence
-Drugs and toxicology
-Firearms and toolmarks
-Forensic biometrics
-Forensic genetics
-Trace evidence
Health
-Biopharmaceuticals
-Cell and gene therapy
-Clinical diagnostics
--Cancer
--Medical imaging
-Food and nutrition
-Human microbiome
-Precision medicine
-Regenerative medicine and advanced therapy
--Flow cytometry
Information technology
-Biometrics
-Cloud computing and virtualization
-Complex systems
-Computational science
-Conformance testing
-Cyber-physical systems
--Smart cities
-Cybersecurity and privacy
--Cryptography
--Cybersecurity education and workforce development
--Cybersecurity measurement
--Identity and access management
--Privacy engineering
--Risk management
--Securing emerging technologies
--Trustworthy networks
--Trustworthy platforms
-Data and informatics
--Human language technology
--Information retrieval
--Natural language processing
-Digital twins
-Federal information processing standards (FIPS)
-Health IT
-Internet of Things (IoT)
-Interoperability testing
-Location based services
-Mobile
-Networking
--Mobile and wireless networking
--Network management and monitoring
--Network modeling and analysis
--Network security and robustness
--Network test and measurement
--Next generation networks
--Protocol design and standardization
--Software defined and virtual networks
-Software research
--Software testing
-Usability and human factors
--Accessibility
-Video analytics
-Virtual / augmented reality
-Visualization research
-Voting systems
Infrastructure
Manufacturing
-Additive manufacturing
-Factory communications
-Factory operations planning and control
-Interoperability in manufacturing
-Machining
-Manufacturing economics
-Manufacturing quality assurance
-Manufacturing systems design and analysis
-Monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics
-Process improvement
-Process measurement and control
-Product data
-Robotics
--Agility and adaptability
--Collaborative robots
--Dexterous grasping
--Manipulation
--Mobility and industrial autonomous vehicles
--Navigation / actuation / control
--Sensing and perception
-Supply chain
-Sustainable manufacturing
-Systems engineering
-Systems integration
-Technology commercialization
Materials
-Ceramics
-Composites
-Concrete / cement
-Materials characterization
--Composition and structure
--Mechanical properties
--Thermal properties
-Metals
-Modeling and computational material science
-Polymers
-Superconductors
Mathematics and statistics
-Experiment design
-Image and signal processing
-Modeling and simulation research
-Numerical methods and software
-Statistical analysis
-Uncertainty quantification
Metrology
-Amount of substance
-Dimensional metrology
-Electrical / electromagnetic metrology
-Flow metrology and rheology
-Force metrology
-Humidity metrology
-Ionizing radiation metrology
-Mass metrology
-Metric
-Optical / photometry / laser metrology
-Pressure and vacuum metrology
-Thermometry metrology
-Time and frequency metrology
-Weights and measures
Nanotechnology
-Nanobiotechnology
-Nanochemistry
-Nanoelectronics
-Nanofabrication / manufacturing
--Lithography
--Self-assembly
-Nanofluidics
-Nanomagnetics
-Nanomaterials
-Nanomechanics
-Nanometrology
-Nanophotonics
-Nanophysics
-Nanoplasmonics
Neutron research
Performance excellence
-Assessment tools and services
-Baldrige award
-Baldrige examiners
-Baldrige Framework and Criteria
-Best practices
-Leadership development
Physics
-Atomic / molecular / quantum
-Biological physics
-Condensed matter
-Electron physics
-Magnetics
-Nuclear physics
-Optical physics and communications
-Quantum information science
-Radiation
-Spectroscopy
-Thermodynamics
-Time and frequency
Public safety
-Chemical / Biological / Radiological / Nuclear / Explosives (CBRNE)
-First responder preparedness
-Law enforcement
-Public safety communications research
-Response robots
Resilience
-Community resilience
--Recovery
--Resilience metrics
-Disaster and failure studies
-Earthquake risk reduction
-Resilience economics
-Resilient materials
-Windstorm impact reduction
Standards
-Accreditation
-Calibration services
-Conformity assessment
-Documentary standards
-Frameworks
-Quality assurance
-Reference data
-Reference instruments
-Reference materials
-Standards education
Technology transfer
Transportation
-Aerospace
-Automotive