Call for Papers

With the rapid development of electronic and information technologies, Internet of Everything (IoE) has become one of the trendiest topics in both academia and industry. Therein, many types of space/air/ground platforms need to be connected to networks for breaking down the isolation of information islands and providing various services. Space/air/ground platforms, such as satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), airships, balloons, terrestrial vehicles, and high-speed train have emerged for accomplishing various complex tasks. Wireless communication is one of the most important technologies to support real-time delivery of the control commands and mission-related data. On the other hand, the space-air-ground integrated network has become a promising paradigm for the six-generation (6G) mobile communication network, where the aerospace and terrestrial vehicles may need to connect to existing mobile cellular networks or act as base stations or relays to assist terrestrial wireless communications. To meet the ever increasing demands of high capacity, wide coverage, low latency, and strong robustness for communications, it is promising to adopt large-scale antenna arrays at the transceivers to obtain considerable array gains and improve the channel quality. Antenna array enabled beamforming technologies can facilitate spectrum reuse, interference mitigation, coverage enhancement, and physical-layer security. Antenna arrays can also be used to promote the sensing capability of space/air/ground networks, where the sensing information may be carefully processed to assist communications.

This Special Issue aims to focus on the theoretical analysis and practical design for antenna array enabled space/air/ground communications and networking. Prospective authors are invited to submit original manuscripts on topics including but not limited to:

• Theoretical analysis of multi-antenna communication
• Design of antenna array for space/air/ground platforms
• Antenna array enabled sensing technologies
• Channel propagation modeling and measurements
• Channel estimation for space/air/ground communications
• Enhanced codebook design for space/air/ground communications
• Beam alignment and tracking
• Robust and self-adaptive beamforming
• Distributed beamforming for space/air/ground platforms
• 3D beamforming and 3D placement for space/air/ground platforms
• Flexible beam coverage for space/air/ground platforms
• Joint beamforming and path planning
• Interference management and mitigation
• Secure communication enabled by antenna arrays
• Network architecture and protocol design
• Antenna array enabled aerial mesh network
• Antenna array enabled vehicle communications and networking
• Antenna array for high-speed train communications
• Enhanced access and backbone links assisted by antenna array
• Multi-antenna multiple access design
• Active and passive beamforming design

Submission Guidelines

Prospective authors should submit their manuscripts following the IEEE JSAC guidelines. Authors should submit a PDF version of their complete manuscript to EDAS according to the following schedule:

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30 September 2021 (Deadline Extended)
First Notification: 15 December 2021
Acceptance Notification: 15 February 2022
Final Manuscript Due: 25 February 2022
Publication Date: Second Quarter 2022

Guest Editors