AraFest’25
September 27 – 28, 2025
Ames, Iowa
The ARA wireless living lab now stands as the first-of-its-kind platform supporting at-scale, high-capacity wireless x-haul mesh networks, heterogeneous wireless access, and LEO satellite communications. ARA offers wireless x-haul communication capacities exceeding 100 Gbps, wireless access capacities up to 3 Gbps, and cell radius reaching up to 10 km. Operating across frequency bands spanning TVWS, mid-band, mmWave, and THz, and offering deep programmability across both access and x-haul platforms, ARA enables transformative wireless research and application development that would be infeasible otherwise.
To grow and strengthen community collaborations in research, education, and innovation and to highlight ARA-enabled advances within major national initiatives (e.g., NSF/USDA AI Institute projects ICICLE and AIIRA, NTIA Innovation Fund project ACCoRD), we are excited to host AraFest’25, the third ARA annual community event. Building on the success of AraFest’24 and the 2023 Public Launch, AraFest’25 will feature keynotes, leadership and technical discussions, hands-on demonstrations, research posters, training workshops, and immersive field tours. AraFest’25 offers participants a unique opportunity to explore the future of open, programmable, interoperable wireless technologies and their real-world applications in domains such as precision agriculture as well as smart and connected communities.
Sept. 27, 2025 (Saturday)
Location: Student Innovation Center
8:00 am – 8:30 am: registration & breakfast
8:30 am – 9:00 am: Welcome Remarks
9:00 am – 10:00 am: ARA Introduction & Tutorial
10:00 am – 10:15 am: coffee break
10:15 am – 12:30 pm: Featured ARA Uses & User Talks
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: lunch break
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm: Platform-Focused ARA Use Training (parallel session)
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm: Community Building Work Session (parallel session)
3:30 pm – 3:45 pm: coffee break
3:45 pm – 5:15 pm: Community Collaboration using ARA
5:15 pm – 5:30 pm: Arathon Introduction, Data, and Teaming
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm: Site Visit
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm: Poster Session & Reception
Sept. 28, 2025 (Sunday)
Location: Student Innovation Center
8:00 am – 8:30 am: breakfast
8:30 am – 9:00 am: Arathon Q&A
9:00 am – 12:30 pm: Arathon Sprint 1
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: lunch break
1:30 pm – 4:30 pm: Arathon Sprint 2
4:30 pm – 5:30 pm: Team Presentations
5:30 pm – 6:00 pm: closing
Note: all times are in US Central Time.
Venue
AraFest’25 will be held at the 2221 Student Innovation Center (606 Bissell Rd, Ames, IA 50011)
Fun facts about the Iowa State University campus and the City of Ames can be found here.
Hotels
Travel grant recipients will be able to reserve University housing. Additional details will be provided directly to them.
AraFest’25 participants are strongly encouraged to book hotels ASAP before hotel rooms run out or become very pricy.
Gateway Hotel and Conference Center
2100 Green Hills Drive, Ames, IA
(515)292-8600
Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, Ames
2609 University Blvd, Ames, IA
(515)259-1973
Best Western Plus University Park Inn & Suites
2500 University Blvd, Ames, IA 50010
(515)296-2500
Econo Lodge
2600 SE 16th St, Ames, IA 50010
(515)233-6060
Other great hotels in Ames can be found here.
* Information is for informal reference only. Please check with the individual hotels for the latest information on room rates and cancellation polices.
Travel
Many commercial and commuter airlines serve the Des Moines International Airport (DSM), which is 35 miles away from Ames, Iowa. Private planes use the Ames Municipal Airport. Car rental is available at the Des Moines airport.
Parking & Transportation
Parking is available at Iowa State for free over the weekend.
Transportation is expected to be provided between the Alumni Center and the Schilletter Village (SUV), in the early morning (before the first session) and late afternoon (after the last session).
Registration link to be announced soon (stay tuned)
| Type | Early Registration (until Sept. 12, 2025) | Regular Registration (until Sept. 26, 2025) |
| Registration Fee | $175 | $200 |
| Student/Academic Travel Grant | Full consideration for students in U.S. institutions; full consideration will be given to non-student participants from academia/non-profits, if travel fund permits. | Consideration will be given to U.S. students (and potentially non-student academics/non-profits in U.S.) only if travel fund is available after all the early registrants have been considered. |
(Note: to help best plan the event, registration at your earliest convenience and well before the deadlines is appreciated.)
Student/Academic Travel Grant: a number of travel grants are expected to be made available to students/academics/researchers in U.S. institutions/non-profits, with priority given to students over non-student academics/non-profit-researchers. If you are interested in applying for a travel grant, please submit the following information in a single PDF file via this application form.
- CV
- [Student Only] Personal statement (no more than 2 pages) with approval signature from the student’s advisor/supervisor. It is recommended that the personal statement discuss (1) the applicant’s research accomplishments so far, (2) how the participation in AraFest’25 (e.g., ARA Use Training Session) may help with the applicant’s current and future research, spelling out specific research topics for which ARA can serve as a testbed, and (3) whether or not the participant will be willing to serve as an active user of ARA and share ARA use experience and insight with the broad community for collaborative learning.
Poster & Talk Sessions: We encourage all grant applicants and attendees to submit for the Poster Session and/or Talk Session using this form.
- Poster Session: Showcase your current research and/or how you plan to use ARA. Awards will be given for Best Poster and Honorable Mention.
- Talk Session: Briefly present your research and how you have used—or plan to use—ARA.
Travel grant application deadline: applications will be reviewed and grants will be awarded on a first-come-first-serve basis; participants are invited to submit applications ASAP and by 11:59pm August 31, 2025 US Pacific Time.
Early registration deadline: 11:59pm September 12, 2025 US Pacific Time
Regular registration deadline: 11:59pm September 26, 2025 US Pacific Time
AraFest’25 is made possible by the generous support of the following sponsors. If your organization may be interested in co-sponsoring the event, please contact partner@arawireless.org.
Platinum
To reach out to the ARA team, please email e2@arawireless.org.