News & Updates

Stay updated with the latest achievements, research milestones, and events from SPEAR Lab. From awards and publications to conference presentations, media features, and community service activities—discover what we've been working on and how our research is making an impact.

2026

September 1, 2026Media

SPEAR Lab Featured in The National on the Satellite Internet Boom

SPEAR Lab was featured in UAE's The National for its coverage of the satellite Internet boom — Nitinder Mohan discusses market growth, Starlink's capacity constraints, its Version 3 satellites, and when switching from fibre to satellite actually makes sense.

August 12, 2026Event

SPEAR @ SIGCOMM 2026: Starlink Internals, Budget-Adaptive Edge AI, and LEO-NET in Denver

SPEAR Lab heads to ACM SIGCOMM 2026 in Denver with a main-conference paper dissecting Starlink's queuing and bandwidth allocation, a NAIC workshop paper on budget-adaptive edge-cloud routing, and the 4th edition of LEO-NET, the ACM workshop on LEO networking and communication.

July 22, 2026Media

KIJK Magazine Interview: Can We Really Put Datacenters in Space?

Dutch popular-science magazine KIJK interviewed Nitinder Mohan for its summer 2026 feature on orbital datacenters, discussing why cooling and launch mass, not solar power, are the real obstacles to computing in space.

July 3, 2026Event

SPEAR Lab Hosts TMA 2026 in Delft

TU Delft hosted the 10th Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference (TMA) 2026 from June 29 to July 2 in Delft, bringing the measurement community together for a PhD School and three days of talks.

May 13, 2026Publication

Paper on Starlink's Inner Workings Accepted at ACM SIGCOMM 2026

Our paper "Dissecting the StarLink" — a per-packet look at how Starlink schedules bandwidth, manages buffers, and drops packets in production — has been accepted at ACM SIGCOMM 2026.

May 12, 2026

Zuji Zhou Successfully Defends Master's Thesis on Multipath Media-over-QUIC

Congratulations to Zuji Zhou for successfully defending his Master's thesis on application-aware multipath scheduling for Media-over-QUIC across WiFi and LEO satellite links.

May 4, 2026Publication

Paper Born from a Bachelor's Research Project Accepted at ACM SIGMETRICS 2026

Work by Vlad Graure and Cristian Benghe on predicting global Starlink performance — carried out during their TU Delft Bachelor's Research Project — has been accepted at ACM SIGMETRICS 2026, a top-tier measurements venue with a 15.2% acceptance rate.

April 10, 2026Event

Hosting the TUM-TUD Joint Doctoral Seminar 2026

TU Delft welcomed Prof. Jörg Ott's Connected Mobility group from TU Munich for a full-day Joint Doctoral Seminar — 16 talks across Satellite & NTN, 5/6G Architecture, Edge & Orchestration, and Security & Privacy.

April 5, 2026News

Debajyoti Halder Joins SPEAR Lab as PhD Candidate

Debajyoti Halder joins the SPEAR Lab at TU Delft as a PhD candidate, bringing experience in distributed systems and carbon-aware computing.

March 11, 2026Event

Panelist at Networking Channel: Connected Space – Challenges and Opportunities in Satellite Computing and Networking

Invited panelist at the Networking Channel's web-streamed discussion on satellite computing and networking, alongside researchers from Microsoft Research, University of Surrey, and UIUC.

February 10, 2026Event

Connected Space: Shaping the Future of Satellite Computing and Networking at Dagstuhl

SPEAR Lab co-organized Dagstuhl Seminar 26062 on Connected Space, bringing together 28 researchers, industry practitioners, and policy experts to tackle the future of satellite computing and networking.

January 29, 2026

Elvin Chen Successfully Defends Master's Thesis on LEO Satellite Network Resilience

Congratulations to Elvin Chen for successfully defending his Master's thesis on crowd-sourced ground stations for LEO satellites.

January 29, 2026Publication

Paper on Web Content Delivery over Starlink Accepted at WWW 2026

Our study "Investigating Web Content Delivery Performance over Starlink" has been accepted at ACM The Web Conference (WWW) 2026.

November 5, 2025

SPEAR Lab Supports Do IoT Fieldlab with Satellite Connectivity

Do IoT Fieldlab has installed a Starlink dish to investigate satellite network performance, enabling research on LEO satellite connectivity as part of the international LeoScope testbed collaboration.

November 1, 2025Award

Distinguished Reviewer at ACM IMC 2025

Honored to be a Distinguished Reviewer at the ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2025 for contributing high-quality reviews to the network measurement community.

September 15, 2025Event

LEO-NET 2025 Workshop Successfully Held at SIGCOMM

The third annual LEO-NET workshop on LEO Networking and Communication was successfully held at ACM SIGCOMM 2025.

July 15, 2025Event

Presenting Starlink CDN Research at IETF 123 MAPRG

Our ANRP 2025 award-winning research on Starlink CDN performance was presented at the Measurement and Analysis for Protocols Research Group (MAPRG) session at IETF 123 in Madrid.

June 15, 2025Award

Hendrik Cech receives IETF/IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize 2025

Hendrik Cech's research on Starlink CDN performance has been honored with the prestigious IETF/IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) 2025.

June 15, 2025Event

Panelist at NATO Summit Pre-Event on High Capacity Wireless

Participated as a panelist at the pre-NATO Summit event discussing high capacity wireless technologies for strategic advantage in The Hague, Netherlands.

May 20, 2025Event

SPEAR lab presents Starlink Research at RIPE 90

SPEAR lab presents our award-winning Starlink CDN research at RIPE 90 meeting, sharing insights with the Internet operations community.

April 20, 2025Award

Best Poster Award at EuroSys 2025

Giovanni Bartolomeo receives Best Poster Award at EuroSys 2025 for work on container registries and on-demand image partitioning.

April 15, 2025Award

Best Paper Award at EdgeSys 2025!

Our paper on hybrid virtualization orchestration for edge computing wins Best Paper Award at ACM EdgeSys 2025.

April 9, 2025Event

Chairing Session at ICT.OPEN 2025

Serving as session chair at ICT.OPEN 2025, the Netherlands' premier ICT research conference.

April 1, 2025Publication

Paper on Distributed Machine Learning Accepted at USENIX ATC 2025

Our work on on-demand container partitioning for distributed ML has been accepted at USENIX ATC 2025 with all artifact badges!

March 15, 2025Event

Dagstuhl Seminar Proposal on Connected Space Accepted

Our Dagstuhl Seminar proposal on "Connected Space - Challenges and Opportunities in Satellite Computing and Networking" has been accepted for 2026.

March 15, 2025Award

RIPE Academic Cooperation Initiative (RACI) Fellowship Awarded

Dr. Nitinder Mohan receives RIPE Academic Cooperation Initiative fellowship to support research on LEO satellite network measurements.

March 10, 2025Publication

Paper on Hybrid Virtualization Accepted at EdgeSys 2025

Our paper "Supporting Hybrid Virtualization Orchestration for Edge Computing" has been accepted at ACM EdgeSys 2025.

January 20, 2025Media

BTW Media Interview: Edge Computing, Satellites, and Internet Reality

In-depth exclusive interview with BTW Media exploring the intersection of edge computing and satellite networks, discussing how LEO satellites are transforming Internet connectivity.

January 20, 2025Media

Featured in Rest of World News on Starlink's Impact in Africa

Our research on Starlink performance was featured in Rest of World's in-depth investigation of satellite Internet's impact across Africa.

January 10, 2025Event

COMSNETS 2025 Panel and Keynote on Satellite Networks

Served as panelist and delivered keynote talk at COMSNETS 2025 in Bangalore on LEO satellite networks and Internet infrastructure.

November 15, 2024Media

DW News: Is Starlink in Africa a Blessing or Curse?

DW News video report examines Starlink's impact in Africa, featuring SPEAR Lab research on LEO satellite networks and their transformative potential for global connectivity.

October 15, 2024Award

Runners-up in RIPE Labs Article Competition

Our blog post "A Multifaceted Look at Starlink Performance - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" was selected as runners-up in the RIPE Labs article competition at RIPE 89.

September 15, 2024Publication

Paper on Starlink CDN Performance Accepted at HotNets 2024

Our paper "It's a bird? It's a plane? It's CDN! - Investigating Content Delivery Networks in the LEO Satellite Networks Era" has been accepted at ACM HotNets 2024.

September 10, 2024Publication

Paper Accepted at LEO-NET 2024 Workshop

Our paper "Segment Routing based on Geographic Checkpoints" has been accepted at the ACM Workshop on LEO Networking and Communication (LEO-NET) 2024.

August 20, 2024Publication

Two Posters Accepted at IMC 2024

Our work on Starlink performance has been accepted as two posters at ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2024.

August 15, 2024Publication

Paper Published in IEEE Internet Computing on Edge AI

Our paper 'Revisiting Edge AI: Opportunities and Challenges' is now published in IEEE Internet Computing, exploring the landscape of AI at the network edge.

August 1, 2024News

Nitinder Mohan Joins TU Delft as Assistant Professor

Dr. Nitinder Mohan has joined the Networked Systems Group at Delft University of Technology as an Assistant Professor.

June 25, 2024Event

Invited Talk at ITS 2024 on Starlink Measurements

Presented our comprehensive Starlink measurement study at the International Telecommunication Society (ITS) Conference 2024.

June 1, 2024Event

Call for Papers: LEO-NET 2024 Workshop

Call for Papers is now open for the LEO Networking and Communications (LEO-NET) 2024 workshop co-located with ACM MobiCom 2024.

March 15, 2024Event

Presented Starlink Research at LEOCONN Webinar Series

Presented our research on Starlink network performance at the LEOCONN Webinar Series, discussing global measurements and performance characteristics.

March 1, 2024Event

Poster Co-Chair for ACM EuroSys 2025

Serving as Poster Co-Chair for ACM EuroSys 2025, helping organize the poster session for one of the premier systems conferences.

January 15, 2024News

Welcome to SPEAR Lab!

We are excited to launch the new SPEAR Lab website. Learn about our research, team, and opportunities.

January 15, 2024Publication

Paper on Starlink Performance Accepted at WWW 2024

Our comprehensive study "A Multifaceted Look at Starlink Performance" has been accepted at ACM The Web Conference (WWW) 2024.

November 15, 2023Award

Best Paper Award at IEEE Future Networks 2023

Our paper "nextGSIM - Towards Simulating Network Resource Management for Beyond 5G Networks" won the Best Paper Award at IEEE Future Networks World Forum (FNWF) 2023.

October 20, 2023Event

Dagstuhl Seminar on Edge-AI Successfully Completed

The Dagstuhl Seminar on "Edge-AI - Identifying Key Enablers in Edge Intelligence" brought together leading researchers to discuss the convergence of edge computing and AI.

October 15, 2023Publication

Paper Accepted at ACM CoNEXT 2023

Our paper "Characterizing Distributed Mobile Augmented Reality Applications at the Edge" has been accepted at ACM CoNEXT 2023 with a 19.3% acceptance rate.

July 15, 2023Event

Oakestra Presented at IETF 117 COINRG

Prof. Jörg Ott presented Oakestra at the Computing in the Network Research Group (COINRG) at IETF 117.

June 15, 2023Award

Oakestra Paper Awarded All Three Artifact Badges

Our USENIX ATC 2023 paper on Oakestra was awarded all three artifact reproducibility badges: Available, Functional, and Reproduced.

May 20, 2023Award

Awarded Doctoral Hat and Sword at 100th PhD Promotion Ceremony

I received my doctoral hat and sword at the historic 100th PhD promotion ceremony at the University of Helsinki.

May 10, 2023Event

Dagstuhl Seminar on "Lessons Learned From 40+ Years of the Internet"

Participated in a unique Dagstuhl Seminar bringing together Internet pioneers to reflect on 40+ years of Internet history and chart the course for the future.

April 15, 2023Publication

Oakestra Paper Accepted at USENIX ATC 2023

Our paper "Oakestra - A Lightweight Hierarchical Orchestration Framework for Edge Computing" has been accepted at USENIX ATC 2023 with an 18.4% acceptance rate.

2022

August 20, 2022Media

APNIC Blog Features Our MPTCP Adoption Research

Our research on MPTCP adoption in the Internet was featured by APNIC Blog, highlighting global deployment patterns and challenges.

August 15, 2022Award

EDGELESS Project Awarded €5.4M EU Horizon 2020 Funding

Our project proposal EDGELESS on cognitive edge computing was successfully awarded €5.4M funding by EU Horizon 2020.

August 10, 2022News

Oakestra Project Website Launched

The official Oakestra project website is now live at oakestra.io, providing documentation, downloads, and community resources.

June 15, 2022Publication

Oakestra Demo Accepted at ACM SIGCOMM 2022

Our demo on Oakestra, an orchestration framework for edge computing, was accepted at ACM SIGCOMM 2022.

2021

August 15, 2021Publication

Paper on Cloud Reachability Accepted at IMC 2021

Our paper "Cloudy with a Chance of Short RTTs - Analyzing Cloud Connectivity in the Internet" has been accepted at ACM IMC 2021.

2020

August 15, 2020Publication

Paper on Edge Computing Latency Accepted at HotNets 2020

Our paper "Pruning Edge Research with Latency Shears" has been accepted at ACM HotNets 2020, examining realistic latency expectations for edge computing.