ARA has hosted two annual events so far, engaging participants from academia, industry, government, and communities across the U.S. and globally. Informative ARA updates, insightful keynotes and panel discussions, as well as visionary demos of advanced wireless and AgTech can be found in AraFest’24 (an ARA annual community event co-located with the 2024 Farm Progress Show, the world’s premiere AgTech event) and 2023 ARA Public Launch.
ARA PAWR Update & Participation Invitation
We are excited to share that the ARA PAWR platform has successfully completed most of its Phase-1 development, and it is now ready for supporting research experiments in 5G-and-beyond technologies and their applications in domains such as agriculture automation and XR-based EdTech. Please find below a list of unique experimental studies feasible at ARA:
- Long-distance, high-capacity wireless x-haul systems ranging from microwave (11GHz) to mmWave (70-80 GHz) and free space optical communications (194THz);
- TVWS massive MIMO systems with programmable production-quality implementation;
- Open-source, fully-programmable SDR-based 5G systems with O-RAN support;
- State-of-the-art Ericsson 5G massive MIMO and mmWave systems;
- Advanced wireless applications in domains such as agriculture automation and XR-based EdTech;
- Translational research through engagement with 65+ public-private partners of ARA across diverse communities and industries as well as the OPERA open-source ecosystem for advanced wireless and rural broadband.
We plan to start the ARA beta test early May, and we expect to release ARA to the broad community around this summer. We will organize a webinar during 12:30am – 1:30pm CT on Friday, May 5th to share the latest status of ARA and to discuss the beta test and other activities open for community participations. Registration for the webinar is accepted here by 12pm CT Thursday, May 4th.
For developing ARA living lab activities to best serve the broad community, your help with responding to this short survey at your earliest convenience (and, if possible, Tuesday, May 9th) will be invaluable and greatly appreciated.
First ARA Research Community Workshop
We are happy to announce the First ARA Research Community Workshop, to be held during 8am – 10:30am US Pacific Time on June 30 and July 1, 2021. Please register via https://forms.gle/3mshWUh5G9xLQzgQ7 by June 25th.
You are also more than welcome to join the ara-users online forum and mailing list, to help co-shape the development and use of ARA with other users and the project team.
June 22 invitation – PAWR Program Announces First Rural Broadband Testbed
You are invited to attend a live, online event to announce the fourth testbed in the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program, a $100 million effort funded by the National Science Foundation and an industry consortium of 35 leading wireless companies and associations. The fourth testbed will focus on wireless technologies for rural broadband connectivity. The launch event will include an overview of the platform, as well as remarks from distinguished program officials and partners.
Please join us on June 22 at 2:00pm Eastern for the live event. We expect the program to wrap up in 30 minutes.
Click here to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GDUchbt4QbGGVwNayim4Mw
Speakers will include:
- NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan (to be confirmed, high level replacement substituted as needed)
- NIFA Director Carrie Castille
- Ericsson Vice President Paul Challoner