NTIA Launches Wireless Sharing Test Bed

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration has launched a wireless test bed in partnership with the University of Colorado in Boulder.

As part of the five-year project NTIA's Institute for Telecommunications Sciences, which is based in Boulder, will install spectrum-monitoring sensors on the campus, with both partners sharing data on spectrum management, wave propagation and sharing scenarios.

NTIA, which is the White House's chief communications policy advisor, as well as the "regulator" of government spectrum, is under a general directive to find ways to free up government spectrum for wireless broadband, either via reclamation or sharing with private entities.

"The scientists and engineers working at ITS are experts in the field of spectrum measurement, and we expect the collaboration with CU to lead to new opportunities for government users to share spectrum with other agencies and commercial users," said NTIA administrator David Redl.

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.