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Introduction

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL) unifies decades of research on communications technologies across NIST. CTL conducts work across a range of research levels, from fundamental science for improved metrology to standardization of tools and techniques used by current and future industry. It aims to serve as “an independent, unbiased arbiter of trusted measurements and standards to government and industry” by “developing precision instrumentation and creating test protocols, models, and simulation tools to advance communications technology” (CTL 2025a). CTL is comprised of five divisions—the Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR), the Radio Frequency Technology Division (RFTD), the Spectrum Technology and Research Division (STAR), Smart Connected Systems, and Wireless Networks—and houses the National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network, a collaborative effort with other federal agencies to tackle challenges in spectrum sharing (CTL 2025a). To inform its research efforts and align them with stakeholder needs, CTL has been developing strategic roadmaps in the areas of 6G communications, radio frequency metrology and calibration services, quantum communications, public safety communications, spectrum science, and space communications (Feldman et al. 2025a).

As of September 2025, CTL employed 299 staff members, including career and term-limited federal employees, contractors, guest researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and students (CTL 2025b; Feldman et al. 2025b). This represents a slight decrease since fiscal years (FYs) 2023 and 2024, when CTL staff numbered 338 and 341, respectively (Feldman et al. 2025b). CTL’s appropriations have also been decreasing over the past several FYs—from $62.4 million in FY 2023, to $59.8 million in FY 2024, to $54.7 million in FY 2025 (CTL 2025b; Feldman et al. 2025b). In addition to the base appropriations, CTL divisions can (and often do) receive additional funding through other congressionally mandated activities (e.g., Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act programs), internal NIST-funded initiatives (e.g., NIST’s Innovation in Measurement Science Program), other federal agency initiatives, and/or cooperative research and development agreements.

STATEMENT OF TASK

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) have been conducting independent assessments of NIST laboratories since 1959 at the direction of Congress and in response to requests from the NIST director. There have been three prior reviews of CTL, in FYs 2015, 2019, and 2022. For this 2025 assessment, the National Academies convened the Panel on Assessment of the NIST Communications Technology

Laboratory (the panel) to evaluate the three CTL divisions located in Boulder, Colorado: Public Safety Communications, Radio Frequency Technology, and Spectrum Technology and Research. The panel was responsible for responding to the following statement of task:

The National Academies shall appoint a panel to assess independently the scientific and technical work performed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL). The panel will review technical reports and technical program descriptions prepared by NIST staff and will visit the facilities of the Communications Technology Laboratory. Visits will include technical presentations by NIST staff, demonstrations of NIST projects, tours of NIST facilities, and discussions with NIST staff. The panel will deliberate findings in closed sessions and will prepare a report summarizing its assessment findings and recommendations.

NIST has requested that the laboratories be assessed against the following broad criteria:

1. Assess the organization’s technical programs.
   • How does the quality of the research compare to similar world-class research in the technical program areas?
   • Is the quality of the technical programs adequate for the organization to reach its stated technical objectives? How could it be improved?
2. Assess the portfolio of scientific expertise within the organization.
   • Does the organization have world-class scientific expertise in the areas of the organization’s mission and program objectives? If not, in what areas should it be improved?
   • How well does the organization’s scientific expertise support the organization’s technical programs and the organization’s ability to achieve its stated objectives?
3. Assess the adequacy of the organization’s budget, facilities, equipment, and human resources.
   • How well do the facilities, equipment, and human resources support the organization’s technical programs and its ability to achieve its stated objectives? How could they be improved?
4. Assess the effectiveness by which the organization disseminates its program outputs.
   • How well are the organization’s research programs driven by stakeholder needs?
   • How effective are the dissemination methods and technology transfer mechanisms used by the organization? Are these mechanisms sufficiently comprehensive?
   • How well is the organization monitoring stakeholder use and impact of program outputs? How could this be improved?

CONDUCT OF THE ASSESSMENT

The panel comprised 12 experts aligned with the scientific and technical work performed by the CTL divisions being assessed. The volunteer panel convened in Boulder, Colorado, September 16–18, 2025, for an on-site evaluation of CTL, which involved presentations from the CTL leadership and staff, laboratory tours, and discussions with early career individuals. These interactions, as well as overview material provided by CTL and its divisions and written responses to panel inquiries, informed the qualitative assessment presented in this report. The panel also relied on its own expertise and experience in commenting on the quality of CTL’s research, staff, and facilities and the effectiveness of dissemination efforts. Conclusions and recommendations focused on opportunities and challenges related to CTL’s current work. It is important to underscore that NIST maintains a distinct advisory entity, the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology, which is charged with addressing broader questions related to strategic direction and research alignment across the agency’s laboratories. Further, given the broad, interdisciplinary nature of research at CTL, measuring the laboratory’s outcomes and impacts can be challenging.

STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

Following this introductory chapter, the report includes chapters focused on three CTL divisions being assessed. The PSCR is discussed in Chapter 2, the RFTD is discussed in Chapter 3, and STAR is discussed in

Chapter 4. Chapter 5 presents the committee’s conclusions and recommendations, including division-specific and key crosscutting conclusions and recommendations.

REFERENCES