COVID-19 Updates

We realize that there has been a lot of uncertainty in recent months about the travel to the 2022 AP-S/ URSI conference being held July 10–15, 2022, in Denver, due to the uncertainty with the (still-developing) pandemic situation and visa issues. We are writing to you to clarify what the format of the conference will be, and how accommodations will be made for those who cannot physically travel to the conference due to the pandemic-related travel restrictions or due to visa application denials for reasons beyond the pandemic.

We want to emphasize that the conference will be an in-person event, as previously announced, though special provisions for virtual presentation will be made for those authors who are not able to travel to make their presentations in Denver.

These special provisions are only available for those authors who cannot attend in-person due to pandemic-related travel and participation restrictions, including requirements for travelers to quarantine for 2-3 weeks in a hotel upon returning from abroad, or the inability to get a visa in some countries for travel to the conference. Funding issues, or simply the desire to not attend the conference in-person, is not an acceptable reason for having special provisions for virtual presentation.

For those authors who are not able to attend the conference in-person for the reasons outlined above, a Virtual Presentation Application Form is available on the conference website. Please fill this out and submit the form (following the instructions on the website) by May 25, 2022.

A list of papers approved for virtual presentation will be kept on the conference website. Normally, a decision regarding approval will be made within a few days after receiving the application form.

For authors who are approved to have a virtual presentation, they will be required to upload a video recording of their presentation (15 minutes), which will be played during their session, together with in-person presentations. Additionally, videos will be posted and will be available for viewing to all conference registrants before, during, and after the conference. Questions for video presentations will be submitted through a Q&A feature on the conference website, and authors will be notified when questions are available for their presentation so they can answer them and have online interaction. At the discretion of the session chairs, members of the audience may be invited to offer comments on each virtual paper after the recording is played.

Papers with video recordings from the remote presenters that are posted within the Virtual Forum, played during the conference sessions, and open for discussion though the Q&A feature in the Virtual Forum, will be considered to have been presented at the conference. As such, they will be assigned the same eligibility for being published in the conference proceedings and on IEEE Xplore as the papers presented in-person during the conference.

In-person authors will also be invited (though not required) to provide a video to add to the Virtual Forum, and there will be an online presence for all of the presentations (in-person and virtual), including a remote Q&A feature, in order to enhance the conference experience for everyone.

We will do our best to also conduct some virtual tours of the Exhibit Hall, to enable some virtual interaction with our Sponsors and Exhibitors.

At least one author of each virtual presentation must register at the in-person registration rate by the deadline of May 31, 2022. The maximum number of papers covered by each registration is specified on the registration webpage.

Although the conference is considered be-in-person, a special registration rate, the Limited Virtual Attendance registration rate, will be made available to those who wish to attend the conference remotely and are not registering fully to cover a paper as per above. Attending the conference remotely means that such registrants will be able to view all of the recorded presentations (from remote and in-person attendees) that have been submitted, which will be posted on the conference website within the conference Virtual Forum. They will also be allowed to ask questions of the presenters using the conference website and to attend virtual tours of the Exhibit Hall. Limited Virtual Attendance registrants will not be able to remotely participate in the sessions or view any of the presentations that are not in the Virtual Forum. They will have access to all papers (from remote and in-person attendees) published in the conference proceedings.