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Electronics
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New Advances of Microwave and Optical Communication
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New Advances of Microwave and Optical Communication

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Microwave and Wireless Communications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2024 | Viewed by 2664

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Hector E. Nistazakis

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Guest Editor
Section of Electronic Physics and Systems, Department of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece
Interests: wireless communication systems; free space optical communications (FSO); fiber optics communications; electronic physics; nonlinear optoelectronic circuits
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Erich Leitgeb

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Guest Editor
Institute of Microwave and Photonic Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Information Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 12/I, A-8010 Graz, Austria
Interests: optical wireless technologies for broadband communications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Petros S. Bithas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Digital Industry Technologies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Thesi Skliro, 34400 Evia, Greece
Interests: wireless communication systems; free space optical communications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. George K. Varotsos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electronics, Computers, Telecommunications and Control, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece
Interests: energy harvesting; underwater communications; optical wireless communications (owc); free space optics (fso); transdermal links

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The upcoming next generation mobile network 6G, will be able to support various new applications, with contradictory requirements, in terms of latency, spectrum or energy efficiency, and security, including augmented/extended reality, autonomous driving, industry 5.0. In this context, microwave and optical communications are expected to play vital roles in the development of the 6G networks. More specifically, microwave communications, operating in frequencies ranging from 30GHz-300GHz are expected to exploit advanced antennas arrays to support (distributed or not) massive multiple-input multiple output mechanisms to enhance spectral efficiency and improve the network coverage. Additionally, wireless optical communications, utilizing light beams to transmit data wirelessly through the atmosphere, will be used to exploit the unregulated spectrum that is available in the optical frequency range. Based on this relatively new technology, high-speed communications are assured in conjunction with increased security. However, both these technologies face various challenges, such as the requirement for obtaining line-of-sight conditions, their susceptibility to atmospheric conditions, and problems related to signal attenuation and spectrum congestion.

The exploitation of microwave and wireless optical communications in the 6G era has motivated the present Special Issue, whose aim is to introduce the current research activities in this area. Authors are invited to submit high quality papers on topics that include (but are not limited to) the following topics related to microwave and/or wireless optical communications:

  • Atmospheric Effects and propagation investigations;
  • Channel modeling and characterization;
  • Optical/microwave wireless vehicular networks;
  • Visible light communications;
  • Energy efficiency;
  • High-capacity and high-speed communication techniques;
  • Underwater communication techniques;
  • Integrated satellite-terrestrial communication scenarios;
  • UAV-assisted communications scenarios;
  • Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces-aided communications;
  • Testbeds and experimental evaluations;
  • Physical layer security;
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques for optical/microwave communication scenarios;
  • Energy harvesting.

Prof. Dr. Hector E. Nistazakis
Prof. Dr. Erich Leitgeb
Dr. Petros S. Bithas
Dr. George K. Varotsos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 14043 KiB  
Article
Empirical Insights into 5G Deployments in Highway Operational Environments and Comparative Performance with 4G
by George Tsoulos, Georgia Athanasiadou, George Nikitopoulos, Vassilis Tsoulos and Dimitra Zarbouti
Electronics 2024, 13(8), 1533; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13081533 - 17 Apr 2024
Viewed by 372
Abstract
Despite the promising benefits, the integration of 5G, particularly through Non-Standalone (NSA) architectures that rely on existing 4G infrastructures, introduces challenges in maintaining optimal radio network performance and service quality. This study evaluates 4G and 5G radio network performance through empirical field trials [...] Read more.
Despite the promising benefits, the integration of 5G, particularly through Non-Standalone (NSA) architectures that rely on existing 4G infrastructures, introduces challenges in maintaining optimal radio network performance and service quality. This study evaluates 4G and 5G radio network performance through empirical field trials across highway operational scenarios, a domain less scrutinized compared with urban environments. By conducting simultaneous measurements and comparing all available networks, this research focuses on dissecting the performance of critical quality indicators to gauge the intricacies of radio network behavior in high-speed travel conditions. Our findings illuminate distinct behavioral patterns, highlighting the unique challenges and optimization opportunities in these scenarios. Variability in signal strength across the highway routes underscores the influence of geography and infrastructure on coverage, while the relative stability in signal quality suggests the networks’ capability to maintain signal quality amid fluctuating strength. Interference results indicate effective management of signal interference, crucial for high-quality links, whereas latency and throughput metrics highlight a lag behind anticipated goals for reduced latency but promising data rates. This study not only showcases the variances in network quality and performance, thus pinpointing areas for operator-specific enhancements, but also emphasizes the comparison between the robustness of 4G infrastructures and the challenges in optimizing 5G networks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances of Microwave and Optical Communication)
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20 pages, 5666 KiB  
Article
Harnessing the Radio Frequency Power Level of Cellular Terminals for Weather Parameter Sensing
by Alexandros Sakkas, Vasilis Christofilakis, Christos J. Lolis, Spyridon K. Chronopoulos and Giorgos Tatsis
Electronics 2024, 13(5), 840; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13050840 - 22 Feb 2024
Viewed by 643
Abstract
In light of recent extreme weather events, it is imperative to explore innovative methodologies for promptly and accurately measuring various meteorological parameters. The high spatial and temporal variability in precipitation often surpasses the resolution capabilities of traditional rain gauge measurements and satellite estimation [...] Read more.
In light of recent extreme weather events, it is imperative to explore innovative methodologies for promptly and accurately measuring various meteorological parameters. The high spatial and temporal variability in precipitation often surpasses the resolution capabilities of traditional rain gauge measurements and satellite estimation algorithms. Therefore, exploring alternative methods to capture this variability is crucial. Research on the correlation between signal attenuation and precipitation could offer valuable insights into these alternative approaches. This study investigates (a) the feasibility of the classification of precipitation rate using signal power measurements in cellular terminals and (b) the impact of atmospheric humidity as well as other meteorological parameters on the signal. Specifically, signal power data were collected remotely through a specialized Android application designed for this research. During the time of analysis, the power data were processed alongside meteorological parameters obtained from the meteorological station of the Physics Department at the University of Ioannina gathered over one semester. Having in mind the radio refractivity of the air as a fascinating concept affecting the way radio waves travel through the atmosphere, the processed results revealed a correlation with signal attenuation, while a correlation between the latter and absolute humidity was also observed. Moreover, a precipitation rate classification was attained with an overall accuracy exceeding 88%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances of Microwave and Optical Communication)
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14 pages, 7528 KiB  
Article
Optimal Power Allocation in Optical GEO Satellite Downlinks Using Model-Free Deep Learning Algorithms
by Theodore T. Kapsis, Nikolaos K. Lyras and Athanasios D. Panagopoulos
Electronics 2024, 13(3), 647; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13030647 - 04 Feb 2024
Viewed by 610
Abstract
Geostationary (GEO) satellites are employed in optical frequencies for a variety of satellite services providing wide coverage and connectivity. Multi-beam GEO high-throughput satellites offer Gbps broadband rates and, jointly with low-Earth-orbit mega-constellations, are anticipated to enable a large-scale free-space optical (FSO) network. In [...] Read more.
Geostationary (GEO) satellites are employed in optical frequencies for a variety of satellite services providing wide coverage and connectivity. Multi-beam GEO high-throughput satellites offer Gbps broadband rates and, jointly with low-Earth-orbit mega-constellations, are anticipated to enable a large-scale free-space optical (FSO) network. In this paper, a power allocation methodology based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed for optical satellite systems disregarding any channel statistics knowledge requirements. An all-FSO, multi-aperture GEO-to-ground system is considered and an ergodic capacity optimization problem for the downlink is formulated with transmitted power constraints. A power allocation algorithm was developed, aided by a deep neural network (DNN) which is fed channel state information (CSI) observations and trained in a parameterized on-policy manner through a stochastic policy gradient approach. The proposed method does not require the channels’ transition models or fading distributions. To validate and test the proposed allocation scheme, experimental measurements from the European Space Agency’s ARTEMIS optical satellite campaign were utilized. It is demonstrated that the predicted average capacity greatly exceeds other baseline heuristic algorithms while strongly converging to the supervised, unparameterized approach. The predicted average channel powers differ only by 0.1 W from the reference ones, while the baselines differ significantly more, about 0.1–0.5 W. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances of Microwave and Optical Communication)
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19 pages, 4904 KiB  
Article
A Multifaceted Exploration of Atmospheric Turbulence and Its Impact on Optical Systems: Structure Constant Profiles and Astronomical Seeing
by Pasha Bekhrad, Erich Leitgeb and Hristo Ivanov
Electronics 2024, 13(1), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13010055 - 21 Dec 2023
Viewed by 479
Abstract
This study emphasizes the importance of conducting a comprehensive analysis considering the Cn2 atmospheric parameter for a reliable assessment of the seeing value. It highlights the use of the ECMWF ERA5 model to simulate pressure, temperature, and humidity profiles, enabling the [...] Read more.
This study emphasizes the importance of conducting a comprehensive analysis considering the Cn2 atmospheric parameter for a reliable assessment of the seeing value. It highlights the use of the ECMWF ERA5 model to simulate pressure, temperature, and humidity profiles, enabling the evaluation of optical degradation. Accurate modeling and monitoring of temperature and humidity variables are emphasized for precise data in optical communication and astronomical observations. It also discusses the significance of optical turbulence models in understanding the impact of atmospheric turbulence on optical system performance. The validation of the selected Cn2 models is thoroughly analyzed. To evaluate the impact of the boundary layer on seeing conditions, three factors are considered. First, ERA5 data is used to simulate surface Cn2 values using the PAMELA model. Second, typical Cn2 values for specific dates in Redu are obtained. Finally, the thickness of the boundary layer, denoted as hbl, is calculated. This finding highlights the significant influence of the boundary layer on atmospheric seeing conditions and by incorporating Ibl into the models, a more accurate representation of the effects of the boundary layer on seeing quality is achieved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances of Microwave and Optical Communication)
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