Wireless Innovation Forum

Background

The Wireless Innovation Forum was founded in 1996 at the request of the US military services, led by the Air Force, as an industry association focused on advancing software radio development. Originally named the Modular Multifunction Information Transfer System Forum, it published its first technical report in 1997 outlining the state of the art in software defined radio, including a reference application framework called the Software Radio Architecture based on the SPEAKeasy Architecture. In 1998, the organization changed its legal name to the Software Defined Radio Forum and broadened its focus to commercial and international participation, creating new internal groups including Markets and Regulatory Committees and the Base Station Work Group.

In 2001, the Forum contracted with Communications Research Centre Canada to provide a Software Communications Architecture (SCA) Reference Implementation (SCARI-Open). The Forum hosted its first Technical Conference and Product Exposition in 2002, which became an annual event. Between 2004 and 2010, the Forum signed memorandums of understanding with multiple international groups including the European End to End Efficiency Program, IEICE in Japan, IEEK in Korea, IEEE Standards Association, JTRS, and the European Science Foundation. In 2007, the Forum initiated the Smart Radio Challenge, a worldwide student engineering competition.

In late 2009, the Forum was renamed the Wireless Innovation Forum to reflect its expanded focus on Cognitive Radio, Systems of Systems, Ad Hoc Networks, and Dynamic Spectrum Access Technologies. The Forum restructured to establish Commercialization Committees focused on creating an ecosystem of vendors providing interoperable hardware and software radio components. The Forum is organized around three Commercialization Committees and one Technology Committee, including the Software Defined Systems Committee, Wireless Innovation Committee, CBRS Committee, and 6 GHz Committee, along with a Regulatory Advisory Committee.