Haystack 37-meter radome and campus from the air

SpectrumX collective launches the first NSF Spectrum Innovation Initiative Center

September 22, 2021
Categories: Frank David Lind , Kazunori Akiyama , Philip J. Erickson
MIT Haystack Observatory will be part of the new radio spectrum management and coordination center.

Communication technologies are the lifeblood of modern society, and these fundamentally depend on rapid, wireless exchange of information. The increasing demands of wireless networks, GPS navigation systems, and other mainstream consumer technologies, along with an ongoing surge in related commercial development and satellite launches, mean that access to the radio frequency spectrum — particularly in wireless 5G cell systems — is highly sought after. Spectrum management is crucial to ensure usable access for not only these applications but also vitally important scientific research fields, including radio astronomy, weather forecasting, Earth remote sensing from orbit, and many others.

To address these community trends, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $25 million over five years to the SpectrumX collective to create the first NSF Spectrum Innovation Initiative Center. MIT’s Haystack Observatory is one of the partner institutions in SpectrumX.

For more, please see the full article on MIT News.