Center for Wireless, Communities and Innovation (WiCI)
Iowa State University
Host Organization(s)
Iowa State University
Lab Name
Center for Wireless, Communities and Innovation (WiCI)
Business Unit/Department/Center Name
College of Engineering
Lab Type
Academic
Lab Location
Ames, Iowa
Website / URL
Brief Description of Research Areas
The mission of the Center for Wireless, Communities and Innovation (WiCI) at Iowa State University is to advance the frontiers of wireless systems and applications while addressing the broadband gap between rural and urban regions at the same time. To this end, WiCI has been leading the National Science Foundation Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (NSF PAWR) project on rural broadband --- ARA rural wireless living lab. WiCI has also been collaborating with 65+ public-private partners from industry, academia, government, and communities to drive ARA-enabled wireless and applications technology development, deployment, and adoption, and it serves as a neutral entity in wireless research, education, and innovation. WiCI is a member of the O-RAN Alliance, Next G Alliance, and Linux Foundation, and it has led the establishment of the ARA O-RAN Open Testing and Integration Center (ARA OTIC) to focus on Open RAN for rural America.
ARA deploys advanced wireless, edge, and cloud equipment across the Iowa State University (ISU) campus, City of Ames (where ISU resides), and surrounding research and producer farms as well as rural communities in central Iowa, spanning hundreds of square miles of rural area. Wireless platforms featured by ARA have demonstrated promising performance so far, for instance, up to 3 Gbps wireless access throughput, up to 10 km effective cell radius, and close to 10 Gbps throughput across a wireless backhaul link of over 10 km. Building upon ARA, WiCI is leading the ARA National Radio Dynamic Zone (ARA-NRDZ) project to focus on spectrum sharing and innovation for rural America.
More information about ARA and WiCI can be found at arawireless.org and wici.iastate.edu respectively, and inquires can be emailed to e2@arawireless.org.
Open to the Following Types of Collaboration
Collaborative research agreements, without funding, Joint industry/university proposal development, Industry-sponsored academic research, Industry gift, Optional description
Additional Types of Collaboration
WiCI has as a strong research team consisting of faculty members, full-time research scientists and engineers, as well as Ph.D. students. They have been building research and innovation ecosystems around rural wireless and applications, and they are always interested in opportunities to help amplify the impact of the work of partners.
Lab Research and Data Published Openly
Yes
