Institute for Telecommunication Sciences / About ITS / Awards /
2005 Silver Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement
2005 Silver Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement
FOUR LOCAL ENGINEERS RECEIVE HIGH HONORS FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF COMMERCE
Four staff members of the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration's (NTIA) Institute for Telecommunication
Sciences (ITS) in Boulder, Colo., received a Silver Medal for
Scientific/Engineering Achievement from the U.S. Department of
Commerce at ceremonies in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
Electronics engineers Brent Bedford of Boulder, Nicholas DeMinco
of Boulder, J. Randy Hoffman of Longmont, and Yeh Lo of Broomfield
received a group silver medal for performing measurements and
developing models to quantify aspects of Broadband over Power Line
(BPL) emissions. This accomplishment supports the Commerce
Department's efforts to make broadband access affordable and
available for all Americans.
BPL provides broadband Internet by transmitting radio signals
over regular electrical power lines. As the principal advisor to
the President on telecommunications policy, NTIA was tasked to
analyze technical risks and develop the standards and rules needed
to advance BPL at the urging of the White House, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC).
Working in coordination with the FCC, NTIA designed a plan to
address concerns about BPL interference. Bedford, Hoffman, and Lo
performed field measurements to determine whether BPL emits radio
signals, and if so, at what level the signals are emitted and how
much of the time they are present. Then DeMinco developed models to
predict the amount of BPL emissions coming off power lines.
ITS is the research and engineering laboratory of NTIA. ITS
performs telecommunications research to support NTIA and Commerce
Department goals. NTIA serves as the principal adviser to the
Executive Branch on domestic and international telecommunications
and information policy issues.
Press Release