ALBANY, N.Y. (June 9, 2026) — The University at Albany has received a $1.3 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish an advanced wireless testbed for cutting-edge research aimed at improving use of the electromagnetic spectrum, a vital national resource that is becoming increasingly crowded.
The goal is to develop a shared laboratory facility where researchers from multiple disciplines and universities can test out new wireless technologies and sensing systems across a much wider range of frequencies than is currently possible. This will allow researchers to develop next-generation technologies for wireless communications, radar and sensing systems, and imaging technologies.
The government is interested in finding more efficient ways to use the electromagnetic spectrum as demand from cell phones, WiFi, satellites, radar, GPS, military systems, scientific research and sensing technologies continues to grow. This is a problem because the spectrum is finite, meaning only so many users can operate on a specific frequency at a specific time.
“Everybody wants more pieces of the same pie,” said Dola Saha, associate professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at UAlbany's College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering and principal investigator on the project.
The funds will be used to purchase a highly advanced research instrument that is unique in its ability to operate in extreme bandwidths covering a wide range of frequencies, from traditional wireless bands all the way up to sub-terahertz frequencies. This will be combined with an already established, NSF-funded testbed, CHRONOS , allowing for transmission and reception even in optical, light-based frequencies.
“It’s special because it has really wide bandwidth and the capability to go really low frequencies, below six gigahertz, as well as very high frequencies, all the way up to the sub-terahertz range,” Saha said.
The idea for the facility initially came about as Saha found it essential for wireless applications to be highly agile in a wide range of frequencies to be able to better utilize the available electromagnetic spectrum. Yet there is no wireless testbed with such capabilities, she said.
Once she started talking to faculty, both at UAlbany and other universities, she realized there was high demand for a testbed where researchers could experiment with a wide range of frequencies.
“Some are interested in lower frequency, some are interested in very high frequency for their research,” she said.
The instrument will be housed in the Wireless Systems Lab at CNSE’s Downtown Building. It will be available for use by faculty from other disciplines as well as other universities, including SUNY Polytechnic Institute and Union College, under a fair share access policy.
The facility will also be open to students for research opportunities and will be used to train the next generation of scientists and engineers working to maintain U.S. leadership in wireless technology, a major goal of the government’s National Spectrum Strategy.
As demand for usable radio frequencies and bandwidth grows, researchers like Saha are working to identify and study frequency bands that could support new wireless services and technologies. The new wireless testbed will support this work, facilitating novel research in areas like wavefront engineering, intelligent reflecting surfaces and waveform creation for weather radar, she said.
“I’m most interested in the new research and new collaboration because a lot of the research we do is theoretical,” she said. “But we won’t be limited by theoretical research anymore. Now we will be able to do more experimental research.”
Saha will receive support on the project from co-principal investigators and colleagues in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, Hany Elgala, Aveek Dutta and Mustafa Aksoy.