Call for Papers

To accommodate extremely high data rates, provide extra reliability, improve coverage, and meet traffic demands in future wireless communication networks, novel communication technologies have emerged that can exploit electromagnetic waves, large multiple-antenna systems, intelligent reflective surfaces, hardware aspects, network architectures, and higher frequency bands. Considering the information theoretic limits, such as the channel capacity and the available technology to achieve it, fundamental questions arise for system designers. In fact, current design and analysis methods are predominantly based on the scalar-quantity, far-field, planar-wavefront, monochromatic and other physical-inconsistent assumptions, which may lead to significant mismatches between the system design and the real propagation environments. To address these issues, we consider the concept of consolidating electromagnetics, signal processing and information theory (ESIT) which has recently attracted increasing interest from both academia and industry. The integration of these subjects had the potential to build physically consistent communication models and to properly characterize the fundamental limitations on communication systems. It is expected that ESIT will ignite new theoretical analysis and system design paradigms for future wireless communications. While research into ESIT-based theory, signal processing techniques, channel modeling, antenna design, and standardization for future wireless communications is still in its infancy, it is essential to establish a clear vision and provide guidance for academic researchers and industrial stakeholders. We believe that this Special Issue of the IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications will bring a great opportunity to authors and readers from academia and industry to present novel ideas on ESIT.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Fundamental ESIT theories
  • Fundamental signal/information theories that characterize communication performance via electromagnetics
  • Channel capacity and information rate analysis
  • Degrees of freedom in the time, frequency, and spatial domains
  • Characteristic mode and vector-field analysis
  • Network protocols and information control strategies
  • Super-directivity and super-activation
• Modeling and characterization via ESIT
  • Spectral and spatial ESIT for physics-consistent channel modeling
  • Computational electromagnetics-based channel modeling
  • Network architecture and topology
  • Thermodynamics of communications
• ESIT-aided signal processing and network design
  • Beamforming and channel estimation for both near and far field environments
  • Interference mitigation techniques in dense networks
  • Adaptation and optimization for mobile networks
  • Joint optimization of the system and channel modeling parameters for tasks involving signal processing, protocols, and resource allocation
  • ESIT-aided integrated sensing and communications
• Applications of ESIT
  • Programmable, time-modulated, tensorial, intelligent, and cognitive metasurfaces for 6G networks
  • Holographic, OAM, Bessel beams, and continuous-aperture communications
  • Spherical wave, reactive/radiative near field communications
  • Holographic-Pattern Division Multiple Access (HDMA)
  • Experimental demonstrations, implementations, network deployments and hardware prototyping
  • Multi-user network applications of new ESIT methods
  • ESIT-inspired network control-plane design

Submission Guidelines

Prospective authors should submit their manuscripts following the IEEE JSAC guidelines. Papers should be submitted through EDAS according to the scheduled deadlines.

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 31 March 2023 (Deadline Extended)
First Notification: 30 June 2023
Acceptance Notification: 31 August 2023
Final Manuscript Due: 15 November 2023
Planned Publication: First Quarter 2024

Guest Editors