AraFest’24

AraFest’24
August 24 – 27, 2024
Ames, Iowa

ARA Phase 2 deployment is expected to complete in summer 2024. With its Phases 1 and 2, ARA represents the first-of-its-kind wireless living lab featuring at-scale, high-capacity wireless x-haul mesh networks, heterogenous wireless access networks, and LEO satellite communications. Offering wireless x-haul communication capacity over 100 Gbps as well as wireless access capacity and coverage up to 3 Gbps and 10 km respectively, operating at frequencies ranging from the TVWS band to mid-band, mmWave band, and terahertz band, and with deep programmability across wireless access and x-haul platforms, ARA enables wireless and applications research that would be infeasible otherwise.

To support broad community use of ARA in research, education, and innovation and to celebrate the existing ARA-enabled research and innovation in major national initiatives (e.g., NTIA Open RAN Innovation Fund project ACCoRD, NSF/USDA AI Institute projects ICICLE and AIIRA) and by industry leaders such as Collins Aerospace, Hughes, Microsoft, and Vermeer, we organize AraFest’24, the second ARA annual community event, during August 24 – 27, 2024 in Ames, Iowa. Building on the success of the 2023 ARA Public Launch event, AraFest’24 will convene thought leaders from the government, industry, academia, and communities, as well as aspiring students and innovators; it will feature keynotes, leadership and expert panels, live demos, posters, training workshops, and field tours. In addition, AraFest’24 will coincide with the 2024 Farm Progress Show, the world’s premiere AgTech event, offering participants the unique opportunity to explore synergies between agricultural innovation and advanced wireless technologies.

Selected talks & demos:

• ARA Update: Phase 2, Research Enabled, Community Building [slides]
• Keynote: Democratizing 5G [slides]
• Demo: ARA-Enabled AI for Precision Agriculture [slides]
• Demo: Integrated Wireless Access, X-Haul, and LEO Satellite Communications for Digital Agriculture [slides]
• Demo: End-to-End, Whole-Stack Open-Source 5G Experimentation in ARA [slides]

August 24, 2024 (Saturday)
Location: Student Innovation Center, Room 2221
Breakout rooms – Student Innovation Center (SICTR) Room 3204

8:00 am – 9:00 am: Breakfast
9:00 am – 9:10 am: Welcome remarks: Ashfaq Khokhar, Professor and Palmer Department Chair (ECE), Iowa State University
9:10 am – 9:30 am: Ice-Breaker Introductions
9:30 am – 10:15 am: ARA Introduction
10:15 am – 10:30 am: Break
10:30 am – 12:00 pm: ARA User Training Workshop – Part 1
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm: Automation of ARA Experiments (Marty Kandes)
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm: ARA User Training Workshop – Part 2
3:00 pm – 3:14 pm: GitLab for Community Collaboration using ARA
3:15 pm – 4:00 pm: Arathon plan + Team formation

August 25, 2024 (Sunday)
Location: Marston Hall, Room 2200

Breakout rooms – Marston Hall Room 2300

8:00 am – 9:00 am: Breakfast
9:00 am – 12:00 pm: ARA Hackathon Project Execution (1)
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm: Project Execution (2)
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm: Presentation by teams
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm: Raffling and networking / open discussions

August 26, 2024 (Monday)
Location: Iowa State University Alumni Center

8:00 – 9:00 am: Registration & Breakfast

9:00 – 9:30 am: Welcome Remarks by ISU, PPO, NSF, USDA [video]

• W. Samuel Easterling, James L. and Katherine S. Melsa Dean of Engineering, Iowa State University
• Mari Silbey, Program Director, PAWR Project Office; Senior Director (Partnerships and Outreach), US Ignite
• Alhussein Abouzeid, Program Director, National Science Foundation (NSF); Professor (Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Melvin Carter, Director (Division of Agricultural Systems), USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

9:30 – 10:00 am: ARA Update: Phase 2, Research Enabled, Community Building [video]

• Hongwei Zhang, ARA PI; Director (Center for Wireless, Communities and Innovation – WiCI), Richardson Professor (ECE), Iowa State University

10:00 – 10:15 am: break

10:15 am – 11:00 am: Keynote: Democratizing 5G: Open Source and Much More [video]

• Larry Peterson, Robert E. Kahn Emeritus Professor of Computer Science & Senior Research Scholar, Princeton University; Chair, Technical Steering Team, Aether, a project of Linux Foundation

11:00 – 12:15 pm: Panel: Wireless and Agriculture [video]

• Moderator: Hongwei Zhang, ARA PI, Director (WiCI), Richardson Professor (ECE), Iowa State University
• Ranveer Chandra, CTO of Agri-Food, Managing Director of Industry Research, Networking Research Lead, Microsoft
• Monisha Ghosh, Professor, University of Notre Dame; Policy Outreach Director, SpectrumX; former CTO of FCC, former Program Director at NSF CISE
• Sampath Ramaswami, Vice President (Strategy), Hughes
• Soumik Sarkar, Professor (ME), Director (Translational AI Center – TrAC), Iowa State University; Associate Director, AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture (AIIRA) [slides]
• Christopher Stewart, Professor (CSE), Ohio State University 

12:15 – 1:30 pm: Lunch, Presentations from Arathon (1 – 1:30pm)

1:30 pm – 2:15 pm: Keynote: Christopher Parry, Research Scientist, Corteva

2:15 – 3:00 pm: Lightning Talks (Chair: Yong Guan, ARA co-PI, Professor (ECE), Iowa State University) [video]

• “Multi-Modality Soil-to-Cloud Networking”, Ashwin Ashok, Associate Professor (CS), Georgia State University; Chair, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and Sensors Council Atlanta Chapter 
• “Near and Far-Field Data Distribution for ICICLE: Intelligent CyberInfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment”, Marty Kandes, Computational & Data Science Research Specialist, San Diego Supercomputer Center [slides]
• “Private Networks for Agriculture”, Qiang Liu, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska–Lincoln [slides]
• “Accessible and Affordable Agricultural Technologies: A Space-Air-Ground Integrated Network Approach”, Jianping Pan, Professor (CS), University of Victoria, Canada [slides]
• “LEORAN: Enhancing Satellite Communications with Open Radio Access Networks”, Eduardo Baena, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things, Northeastern University. [slides]
• “Explore New Potential of Wireless Spectrum Through Learning and Systems Approach”, Jie Wang, Senior Ph.D. Student, Washington University in St. Louis.[slides]
• “Post-Quantum Considerations for O-RAN”, Abdullah Aydeger, Florida Institute of Technology.[slides]

3:00 – 3:15 pm: Break 

3:15 – 4:30 pm: Plenary Demos (Chair: Daji Qiao, ARA Infrastructure Working Group Chair, Professor (ECE), Iowa State University)

• “Integrated Wireless Access, X-Haul, and LEO Satellite Communications for Digital Agriculture”, Daji Qiao, ARA Infrastructure Working Group Chair, Professor (ECE), Iowa State University (Partners: Hughes, Microsoft) [video] [slides]
• “End-to-End, Whole-Stack Open-Source 5G Experimentation in ARA: A Case Study of Predictable, Real-Time Wireless Networking Using OpenAirInterface and Aether”, Hongwei Zhang, ARA PI, Director (WiCI), Richardson Professor (ECE), Iowa State University [video] [slides]
• “ARA-Enabled AI for Precision Agriculture”, Soumik Sarkar, Professor (ME), Director (Translational AI Center – TrAC), Iowa State University; Associate Director, AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture (AIIRA) [video] [slides]

4:30 – 6:00 pm: Field Trip to ARA Site at ISU Ag Engineering & Agronomy Research Farm

6:00 – 7:30 pm: Demos, Posters, and Reception (Chair: Yong Guan, ARA co-PI, Professor (ECE), Iowa State University)

• [Poster] “Mobility-driven Spectrum-Agile Resilient mmWave Communication Links for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Traffic Management in the Sky”, Dr. Xiang Sun, University of New Mexico.
• [Poster] “Advanced Real-Time Data Fusion and Enhanced V2X Communication for Autonomous Vehicles”, Rukesh Prajapati and Mohamed Elgouhary, West Virginia University.
• [Poster] “Coordinated Radio SFC Embedding for RAN Slicing Design”, EmadEldin A Mazied, Virginia Tech.
• [Poster] “Understanding 5G Commercial Deployments: Measurements from the US and Europe”, Faaiq Bilal, University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
• [Poster] “Large Language Models for Intelligent Control in O-RAN Networks: Motivation, Standardization and Use Cases”, Seyed Bagher and Hashemi Natanzi, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
• [Demo] “AraGPT – ARA Wireless Assistant”, Ahmad Nazar and Varun Advani, Iowa State University.

August 27, 2024 (Tuesday)
Location: Iowa State University Alumni Center & Farm Progress Show

8:00 – 9:00 am: Registration & Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 am: Welcome Remarks: Jason Keith, Provost & Senior Vice President, Iowa State University [video]

9:15 – 10:30 am: Panel: Real-Time and Mission-Critical Wireless Systems [video]

• Moderator: Hongwei Zhang, ARA PI, Director (WiCI), Richardson Professor (ECE), Iowa State University
• Mohamed Hany, Research Scientist, Industrial Wireless Systems Lab, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [slides]
• Dave Cavalcanti, Principal Engineer & Team Lead (Industrial / Time-Sensitive Networking), Intel Labs; President, Avnu Alliance [slides]
• Benjamin Haan, Director (Mission Systems & Advanced Technology Center), Collins Aerospace
• Song Han, Associate Professor (CS), University of Connecticut [slides]

10:30 – 10:45 am: Break

10:45am – 12:00 pm: Panel: Government & Communities [video]

• Moderator: Mark Berman, CEO, Smart Information Flow Technologies (SIFT) [slides]
• Melvin Carter, Director (Division of Agricultural Systems), USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
• Martin Doczkat, Chief (Electromagnetic Compatibility Division), Office of Engineering and Technology (OET), Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Scott Fox, Senior Advisor / 5G & Cyber SME Team Lead, OUSD(R&E) | DCTO(S&T) | FutureG, Office of the Secretary of Defense | Pentagon  [slides]
• Jaydee Griffith, Managing Director, Next G Alliance; Former Chief Technologist, Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) [slides]
• Brad Hunt, Chief Technologist, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
• Ellen Zegura, Director (Division of Computer and Network Systems), National Science Foundation (NSF); Fleming Chair and Professor, School of Computer Science, Georgia Tech

12:00 – 1:00 pm: Lunch

1:00 – 5:00 pm: Demos at ARA Tent 712, 2024 Farm Progress Show

Note: all times are in US Central Time.

Venue

AraFest’24 will be held at the 2221 Student Innovation Center (606 Bissell Rd, Ames, IA 50011) on August 24, and 2200 Marston Hall (533 Morrill Rd, Ames, IA 5011) on August 25, at the Iowa State University Alumni Center (429 Alumni Ln, Ames, IA 50011) on August 26 and 27th, with part of the program on the 27th held on the ARA demo site at the Farm Progress Show, the premier AgTech event.

Fun facts about the Farm Progress Show can be found here.

Fun facts about the Iowa State University campus and the City of Ames can be found here.

Hotels

With the Farm Progress Show coming to the ARA coverage area, hundreds of thousands of visitors will book up hotels around the City of Ames soon. AraFest’24 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
~$284 per night; free cancelation within 24 hours of stay*

Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, Ames
2609 University Blvd, Ames, IA
(515)259-1973
~$285 per night; free cancelation within 24 hours of stay*

Best Western Plus University Park Inn & Suites
2500 University Blvd, Ames, IA 50010
(515)296-2500
~$160 per night; free Cancelation within 24 hours of stay*

Econo Lodge
2600 SE 16th St, Ames, IA 50010
(515)233-6060
~$215 per night; free cancelation within 24 hours of stay*

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 the Iowa State University Alumni Center (lots B3, C3, C4, and C5), and detailed information can be found at here.

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).

Register Here!

Type	Early Registration (until August 2, 2024)	Regular Registration (until August 16 / 23, 2024)
Registration Fee	$300 (in person) $100 (online)	$400 (in person, until August 12) $150 (online, until August 26)
Fee Waiver/ Discount	Full consideration for potential waiver/discount of registration fee	Consideration for potential waiver/discount of registration fee only if fund is available after all the early registrants have been considered.
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.)

Waiver/Discount of Registration Fee: to make the event accessible to as many participants as possible, the ARA team is trying its best to secure resources for potentially providing registration fee waiver/discount to participants who may need it. If the registration fee waiver is critical to your participation and you will join the event online only, please share your interest here; if you plan to join the event in person and the registration fee waiver/discount is critical to your participation, please fill this application form. Decisions on potential fee waiver/discount are expected to be made by mid-June.

Student/Academic Travel Grant: a limited 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
• Personal statement (no more than 2 pages), discussing
  • the applicant’s research accomplishments so far,
  • how the participation in the AraFest’24 (e.g., the ARA User 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,
  • 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.
• Nomination letter (no more than 1 page) from the student’s advisor/supervisor, if the applicant is a student. The nomination letter should include the following:
  • confirmation that the student is in good academic standing,
  • the student’s research areas for which ARA can serve as a testbed, and
  • how the student will benefit from attending the AraFest’24 (e.g., the ARA User Training Session).

Travel grant application deadline: 11:59pm August 14, 2024 US Pacific Time

Early registration deadline: 11:59pm August 2, 2024 US Pacific Time

Regular registration deadline: 11:59pm August 16 (in-person) / August 23 (online), 2024 US Pacific Time (note: registration must be done here even if you are on-site.)

Register Now!

AraFest’24 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.