‘Broadband Prairie’ rural wireless project moves to public phase of researching, testing

A wireless tower at Iowa State University’s Agriculture Engineering/Agronomy Farm west of Ames (IA) is loaded with hardware sending radio waves across the countryside, creating wireless internet connections for rural users. There are more poles, antennas, and cabinets full of electronics on the roof of the Economic Development Core Facility at the Iowa State University Research Park. There are also electronics and lower-to-the-ground antennas next to research fields and in a sheep barn. There’s equipment going through the roof of a dairy barn. There are even hardware cabinets on the roof of a CyRide bus. Deploying all this infrastructure in and around Ames means the $16 million ARA Wireless Living Lab for Smart and Connected Rural Communities is moving to a public testing phase. (ARA stands for Agriculture and Rural Communities and has a logo featuring the Ara constellation of stars.) A major goal for the ARA project is to address the broadband gap between rural and urban regions and to advance the frontiers of 5G and 6G technologies, said Hongwei Zhang, an Iowa State professor of electrical and computer engineering and the project leader. ARA is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a consortium of 30 wireless companies and associations. While a project goal is to eventually improve wireless service to rural residents and communities, project researchers are now building a wireless platform using the latest technology and testing its performance in a variety of applications, including precision agriculture and rural education.