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Welcome to the Extreme Workshop on Communication!	check past edition: ExtremeCom 2009

The Extreme Workshop on Communication (ExtremeCom) intends to bring together researchers and practitioners in areas related to challenged networks in order to gain experience and insight into the challenges that such environments pose for the network and the users. Such networks include delay and disruption tolerant networks, sparse sensor networks, power-efficient networking, as well as other networking paradigms for rural and remote areas.

We aim to do this through a real-life experience in the Indian Himalayan region. Dharamsala, where the workshop will take place, is a well-frequented and loved destination for visitors. This mountainous town presents a unique mix of cultures and spiritual traditions and is also a starting point to a number of spectacular trekking trails. Dharamsala is also the place where Dharamsala Community Network came to life in February 2005, following the deregulation of WiFi for outdoor use in India. Built and operated by airJaldi, a social enterprise, the network grew from 8 campuses in 2005 to over 2,000 computers spread in campuses, offices and homes within a radius of 70km in and around Dharamsala. airJaldi is building additional networks in other rural locations in India. The ExtremeCom 2010 workshop is planned around airJaldi's Dharamsala network's locations and facilities, thereby giving participants a great opportunity to be involved in a real-life network deployment. Please note that ExtremeCom is a politically and religiously neutral workshop, and the choice of workshop location should not be seen as a political statement.

The workshop will start with a four-day field trip into the mountain regions around Dharamsala. During this time, participants will be given the opportunity to hike along the trails in the mountains, visit local villages and Tibetan settlements and meet the local population and users of the network. The combination of trekking and meetings will give participants a better idea of both the technical and user requirements of the network, as well as provide opportunities for informal research discussions between the participants.

Participants who have their own solutions for scenarios like this will also, to as great an extent as possible, be encouraged to test and demonstrate it within this environment. We are currently planning the mountain-based part of the workshop and some details are subject to change. During the field trip, participants will be given the chance to work with airJaldi to set up more relays, for example in schools along the hiking trail (details to be provided at a later stage).

Upon reaching the end of the hike, we will conduct a two-day technical session in a more traditional conference venue with paper presentations and demos. The focus will still be on informal research discussions, with the hope that the recent field experience they have gone through together will give participants the ability to view and discuss the topics presented with additional insights.

We offer a research internship in Berlin for the best student paper!

A committee will choose the best student paper. The award winner will be offered an internship opportunity to work in Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, Berlin. The internship includes free accommodation and a competitive bursary. The intern will also have the opportunity to continue working on the project with the researchers once back in their host institute. And of course, it is a good chance to enjoy the exciting life in Berlin!

Submission guidelines

Authors should submit a 6-page paper outlining ideas and visions about the topics of the workshop or alternatively a 2-page proposal for a demo to be shown during the workshop. Visionary and thought-provoking papers that are likely to generate much discussion during the workshop are especially solicited. The aim of the workshop is to maintain an informal environment, where new research ideas can be discussed and developed. Accepted papers will be published in the ACM Digital Library.

Topics for the workshop include, but are not limted to:

• Testbeds for large-scale sustainable testing of DTN systems
• Real deployments of networks in extreme environments
• Business and service models for networks in rural, remote, and other challenging environments
• User experience research
• Delay tolerant networking
• Low-power and intermittent-power protocols
• Mechanisms for emergency and urgent communications
• Networked applications and services

Due to logistics and the need to conduct the workshop in harmony with the local population and the environment, the number of participants may be limited. Priority will be given to authors of papers.

Download and forward this Call For Papers:

Text format	PDF format	Word format

Important dates

Submission deadline: April 30, 2010 May 7, 2010 Notification of acceptance: May 30, 2010 Registration deadline: June 30, 2010 Workshop dates: September 4-10, 2010 iCalendar file with these new dates is available here: extremecom10.ics.