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1. Recent Advances in Synthetic Aperture Antennas: Design, Modelling, and Measurement
Guest Editors Ahmet M. Elbir, Sanjeev Sharma, John L. Volakis, Rashaunda Henderson, Levent Sevgi, Fikadu Dagefu
Submission deadline: December 31, 2025
Details of each Special Issue are given below.
Recent Advances in Synthetic Aperture Antennas: Design, Modelling, and Measurement
Phased array systems use analog hardware for directional beamforming, but often lack the angular resolution required in many applications. To overcome this, synthetic or virtual apertures are created by mechanically moving an antenna to collect phase-coherent RF data across spatial locations. This enables high-resolution imaging of electromagnetic scattering and is central to techniques like synthetic aperture radar (SAR), channel sounding, and radiometry. SAR, for instance, leverages platform motion to form a long virtual array for fine azimuth resolution. While much of the literature focuses on SAR signal processing, this special issue emphasizes antenna design and measurement challenges for synthetic apertures—addressing aspects such as sidelobe levels, bandwidth, impedance matching, directivity over varying distances, and scan range.
Synthetic aperture antenna systems have emerged as a cornerstone in modern radar, remote sensing, and imaging technologies, enabling high-resolution spatial information without requiring physically large apertures. This special issue presents a curated collection of recent advances in the design, modeling, and measurement of synthetic aperture antennas, covering both theoretical developments and practical implementations.
With the increasing demand for compact, efficient, and precise antenna systems across a wide range of applications—from earth observation and autonomous navigation to biomedical imaging and wireless communications — researchers are pushing the boundaries of innovation in synthetic aperture techniques. In emerging synthetic aperture imaging applications, coherent phase measurements along the virtual aperture may not always be feasible. For instance, due to size, weight, and power limitations on airborne drones, deploying heterodyne receivers capable of demodulating complex signals and extracting phase information may be challenging. Additionally, at high frequencies, platform vibrations and position uncertainty can make accurate estimation of the received signal's phase impossible. In such scenarios, only magnitude measurements of the electric field at the antenna are available. Traditionally, algorithmic approaches like phase retrieval are employed to iteratively solve an inverse problem, converging to a complex image from initial magnitude measurements. In our special issue, we seek innovative antenna design and measurement campaigns, which are capable of supporting SAR imaging in situations wherein a phaseless synthetic aperture can only provide magnitude measurements of the impinging electric field.
Topics include novel antenna architectures, calibration and alignment strategies, beamforming algorithms, near- and far-field modeling approaches, as well as experimental measurement campaigns leveraging advanced instrumentation. The contributions also highlight progress in integrating synthetic apertures with cutting-edge platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), satellite constellations, and software-defined radios (SDRs). Further, broad topics of this issue are highlighted as:
- Optimization of antenna arrays for synthetic aperture applications
- Synthetic aperture antennas for 5G/6G applications
- Reconfigurable metasurface designs for synthetic apertures
- Ultra-wideband antennas for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and communication
- Metamaterial and reconfigurable antennas for synthetic aperture imaging
- Phased array antennas for synthetic aperture applications
- Beamforming techniques for synthetic aperture antennas
- Compensation of phase and amplitude errors in synthetic aperture systems
- Adaptive algorithms for synthetic aperture measurements
- Machine learning-based calibration techniques for synthetic aperture antennas
- Near-field to far-field transformation in synthetic aperture antennas
- Compact range measurement techniques for synthetic aperture systems
- Time-domain and frequency-domain measurement techniques
- Passive and active SAR antenna architectures
- Multi-frequency and multi-polarization SAR antenna design
- THz antennas for synthetic aperture imaging
- Hybrid RF-optical synthetic aperture systems
- Optical synthetic aperture techniques: Challenges and solutions
- Role of synthetic apertures in 6G and beyond
- Compact and low-power synthetic aperture antenna solutions
- Phase center stability and control for synthetic apertures
- Biosensing applications using synthetic apertures
- UAV-based synthetic aperture systems for remote sensing
- AI/ML-driven synthetic aperture antenna design and analysis
- Quantum synthetic apertures
- Synthetic aperture polarimetry
- Near-field synthetic aperture and imaging
- Channel sounding techniques for massive MIMO communications
- Design/measurement processing of Rydberg sensors for wideband synthetic apertures
- RF domain applications and active/passive beamforming
- Novel imaging and signal processing techniques for phaseless synthetic apertures
This special issue aims to serve as a comprehensive resource for academics, engineers, and practitioners interested in the latest developments shaping the future of synthetic aperture antenna systems.
Data and Code Sharing
All authors are invited to share via IEEE Data Port and IEEE Code Ocean the used data and developed codes to enhance the reproducibility and visibility of the articles published in the Special Issue.
Keywords
- Synthetic Aperture Antennas
- Phaseless Imaging
- Antenna Design and Calibration
- Beamforming and Array Optimization
- SAR and Remote Sensing
- Machine Learning for Antenna Systems
Guest Editors
Ahmet M. Elbir: University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg,
Sanjeev Sharma: IIT (BHU) Varanasi, India,
John L. Volakis: Florida International University, USA,
Rashaunda Henderson: The University of Texas at Dallas, USA,
Levent Sevgi: Istanbul Technical University, Turkey,
Fikadu Dagefu: Army Research Laboratory, USA,
Important Dates
Submission deadline: December 31, 2025