Advanced communications research activities

The Director, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, the Director of the National Science Foundation, and heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, shall carry out a program of measurement research for advanced communications technologies. Research areas may include— In coordination with the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, the private sector, and other Federal agencies as appropriate, the Director may develop and manage testbeds for research and development of advanced communications technologies, avoiding duplication of existing testbeds run by other agencies or the private sector. In carrying out the activities under this subsection, the Director shall seek input from other Federal agencies and from private sector stakeholders, on an ongoing basis, to help inform research and development priorities, including through workshops and other multistakeholder activities. In carrying out the activities under this subsection, the Director shall convene industry, institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, Federal laboratories, and other Federal agencies engaged in advanced communications research and development to develop, and periodically update, coordinated technical roadmaps for advanced communications research in priority areas, such as those described in paragraph (2). The Director, in coordination with the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, shall operate a national network of government, academic, and commercial test capabilities and facilities to be known as the National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (referred to in this section as “NASCTN”). NASCTN shall be for the purposes of facilitating and coordinating the use of intellectual capacity, modeling and simulation, laboratory facilities, and test facilities to meet national spectrum interests and challenges, including—