Announcements

Sensors (IF 3.576, ISSN 1424-8220) is a leading international, peer-reviewed, open access journal for research on the science and technology of sensors. Original, peer-reviewed papers in the field of sensors and sensing technology for industrial applications are published in the “Industrial Sensors” Section. This Section covers a broad range of applications and sensor types in the engineering, manufacturing and processing industries.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Sensor applications in industrial automation;
• MEMS for industrial sensors;
• Industrial wireless sensor networks;
• Biosensors in industrial process control;
• Industrial sensors and 3D printing;
• The Industry 5.0 revolution;
• Position and motion monitoring;
• Process and environment monitoring sensors;
• Human–machine interfaces;
• AR/VR/XR for industry;
• Industrial handheld devices;
• Smart batteries;
• Wearables for health and safety for industrial purposes;
• Intelligent sensor management for process industries;
• Virtual sensing technology in process industries;
• Quantum sensors;
• Blockchain 4.0;
• Industrial security and communication;
• Edge computing for industrial sensors;
• Smart manufacturing and industry;
• Smart energy management/ smart grids;
• Industrial sensors for robotics;
• Sensors for industrial packaging;
• Industrial IoT sensors (IIoT sensors);
• Machine learning, deep learning, big data and AI in industrial sensors;
• Smart sensors/ edge sensors;
• Sensors for machinery.

Proposals that are within the scope of the Section are welcome. For more details, please visit the following website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/sections/industrial_sensors.

If you would like to propose a Special Issue topic for this Section, please click the following link, where you can complete and submit the form: https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/sensors. Our editors will respond to you shortly.

Editorial Office’s role:

The Editorial Office will set up the Special Issue website, arrange the promotional material, assist with invitations for paper contributions, and take care of the administrative tasks associated with the peer-review process, including inviting reviewers, collating reports, contacting authors, and arranging professional production before publication.

If you are interested in this opportunity, and would like further details and clarifications, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office (sensors@mdpi.com).

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Academic editors play a crucial role in leading our journals and ensuring that each article undergoes a robust and timely peer-review. With the launch of Topics this year and addition of Topic Editors to our family of academic editors, we decided it would be a good time to restructure our academic boards, thus providing more clarity and support for each role. MDPI is pleased to announce the launch of a new position—Topical Advisory Panel Member, that will replace the previous position of Topics Board Member. The Topical Advisory Panel will be comprised of early career researchers eager to gain experience in editorial work.

The main responsibility of the new members of the Topical Advisory Panel is to regularly provide support to Guest Editors, Topic Editors, and Section Board Members. The responsibilities of the Topical Advisory Panel are available here: https://www.mdpi.com/editors.

Each year, the members’ performances are evaluated, and outstanding members are promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

To qualify as a Topical Advisory Panel Member, applicants must:

• Have expertise and experience in the field related to the journal;
• Have received a Ph.D. in the last 10 years, approximately;
• Have at least 6-8 published papers in the last 5 years as first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute.

If you are interested in this role, please contact the editorial office by email.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

MDPI will be attending the 2021 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) from 7 to 11 December 2021, in Madrid, Spain.

With the theme “Connecting Cultures around the Globe”, this flagship conference of the IEEE Communications Society will feature a comprehensive, high-quality technical program, including 12 symposia, selected areas in communications tracking, and a variety of tutorials and workshops. IEEE GLOBECOM 2021 will also introduce an attractive industry program aimed at practitioners, with keynotes and panels from prominent research, industry and government leaders, business and industry panels, and vendor exhibits.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Sensors;
• Future Internet;
• Technologies;
• Drones;
• ASI.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth, B5. Our delegate looks forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following website: https://globecom2021.ieee-globecom.org/.

Name: Prof. Dr. Peter Han Joo Chong
Email: peter.chong@aut.ac.nz
Affiliation: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Interests: machine learning techniques applied to software-defined vehicular networks; wireless/mobile communications systems including radio resource management, multiple access, MANETs/VANETs, green radio networks, and 5G-V2X networks

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Peter Han Joo Chong has been appointed Associate Editor of the “Communications” Section in Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220).

Prof. Dr. Peter Han Joo Chong is the Associate Head of School (Research) at the School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Between 2016 and 2021, he was the Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at AUT. He received a B.Eng. (with distinction) in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1993, and M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. He visited Tohoku University in Japan as a Visiting Scientist in 2010, and Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in Hong Kong between 2011 and 2012. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Information Engineering, CUHK. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (FIET), UK.

Before joining AUT in 2016, Prof. Dr. Chong was an Associate Professor (tenured) from July 2009 to April 2016 and Assistant Professor from May 2002 to June 2009 at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Between 2011 and 2013, he was the Assistant Head of Division of Communication Engineering. Between 2013 and 2016, he was the Director of Infinitus, Centre for Infocomm Technology. He was the recipient of the “EEE Teaching Excellence Award” and “Nanyang Award Excellence in Teaching” in 2010, and the “Nanyang Education Award (College)” in 2015. In 2015, he became a Fellow of the Teaching Excellence Academy in NTU. From February 2001 to May 2002, he was with the Radio Communications Laboratory at Nokia Research Center in Finland. Between July 2000 and January 2001, he worked in the Advanced Networks Division at Agilent Technologies Canada Inc. in Canada. He co-founded P2 Wireless Technology in Hong Kong in 2009 and Zyetric Technologies in Hong Kong, New Zealand and the US in 2017.

His current research projects’ focus is on machine learning techniques applied to software-defined vehicular networks. He has been developing deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based resource management techniques for future 5G-V2X networks. His research interests are in the areas of wireless/mobile communications systems including radio resource management, multiple access, MANETs/VANETs, green radio networks and 5G-V2X networks.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Peter Han Joo Chong in his role as Section Associate Editor and we look forward to him leading Sensors to many more milestones.

MDPI will be attending the 11^th International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation, which will be held from 29 November to 2 December 2021, in Lloret de Mar, Spain.

The conference will be focused on the following topics: algorithms for wireless sensor networks; applications of location awareness and context detection; benchmarking, assessment, evaluation, standards; health and wellness applications; human motion monitoring and modeling; indoor maps, indoor spatial data models and indoor mobile mapping, and 3D building models; indoor positioning, navigation, and tracking methods; innovative systems; location-based services and applications; privacy and security for ILS; robotics and UAV; seamless systems; self-contained sensors; user requirements for location-based systems; wearable and multi-sensor systems, etc.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Sensors (ISSN: 1424-8220);
• Remote Sensing (ISSN: 1424-8220);
• Drones (ISSN: 2504-446X);
• ASI (ISSN: 2571-5577);
• Systems (ISSN: 2079-8954).

If you are also attending this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit: https://ipin-conference.org/2021/index.html.

Founded in 1996, MDPI was one of the first fully Open Access publisher. Over 25 years MDPI has grown to become the largest Open Access publisher globally, publishing over 160,000 articles across more than 350 journals in 2020. At the core, MDPI was founded in response to a pressing need of fast publication and inclusion. The scholar was set at the centre of the publication process for the first time. Acting as a service provider, rather than a product provider, MDPI exists to help scientists achive their objective to disseminate research results. At MDPI, we believe scientists deserve a better service from the publishing world.

The International Open Access Week (Open Access Week), founded by the SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) Alliance and student partners in 2008, has been successfully running for 13 years. As an advocate and pioneer of open access publishing, MDPI actively responds to the call of International Open Access Week. This year’s theme of “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity” highlights the Recommendation’s call for equitable participation from all authors and readers.

For the last 25 years, MDPI has been committed to disseminating open research. Here is a video showing MDPI’s Commitment to Equity, Inclusion and Diversity for More than 25 Years.

International Open Access Week is an important opportunity to catalyze new conversations, create connections across and between communities that can facilitate this co-design, and advance progress in the building of more equitable foundations for opening knowledge—discussions and actions that need to be continued, year in and year out. MDPI has always aimed to provide professional and efficient publishing services to scholars around the world.

Our mission is to make scientific research accessible to everyone; this year, we interview and hold discussions with open science ambassadors on how to build an equal and inclusive environment for open science. Academic editors help us collaborate with more institutions to advocate for open access ideas.

Read our anniversary blog post: "Sharing 'Collective Human Knowledge': The Benefits of Open Access Publication"

Besides this, our scientific community is a key driver of our success and MDPI’s remarkable growth. Despite the pandemic, we have prepared online conferences and workshops to gather scholars from different communities.

The Basel Sustainable Publishing online forum provides an equal opportunity for stakeholders and researchers from multi-cultural environments to exchange ideas and eliminate barriers to participation.

Conference date: 25 October 2021, online
Conference website: https://bspf2021.sciforum.net/
Main topics: MDPI discusses the current dilemma of open access science from various perspectives such as governments, libraries, and publishers, and related measures on how to change the status quo of discrimination from a global perspective.

We aim to support equality, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in scholarly communications. We collaborate with universities and key laboratories and have scholarly communications with researchers, teachers, and students on open access workshops.

• 25 October 2021
  Energies journal and Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• 28 October 2021
  Machines journal and State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, Southwest Jiaotong University

• 29 October 2021
  Processes journal and Beijing Institute of Technology

• 29 October 2021
  Coatings journal and Wuhan University of Technology

MDPI is committed to providing open access and high-quality publishing services for scholars and promoting rapid dissemination of academic achievements. We hope to promote the practices and policies of open access publishing and diversify the dissemination of academic achievements.

Rigorous peer-review is the cornerstone of high-quality academic publishing. Over 369,916 scholars served as reviewers for MDPI journals in 2020. We are extremely appreciative of all those who made a contribution to the editorial process in this capacity. At the beginning of every year, journal editorial offices publish a list of all reviewers’ names to express our gratitude. In addition, this year, the MDPI Top Reviewer Award was announced, to recognize the very best reviewers for their expertise and dedication, and their high-quality, and timely review reports. We are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2020 MDPI Top Reviewer Award:

• Adriana Burlea-Schiopoiu;
• Alban Kuriqi;
• Álvaro González-Vila;
• Alessandro Alaimo;
• Alexey Beskopylny;
• Alexander Yu Churyumov;
• Alberto Fernández-Isabel;
• Andrea Mastinu;
• Antonios N. Papadopoulos;
• Anton Rassõlkin;
• Antonio Humberto Hamad Minervino;
• Arkadiusz Matwijczuk;
• Artur Słomka;
• Baojie He;
• Bartłomiej Potaniec;
• Bojan Đurin;
• Camilo Arturo Rodriguez Diaz;
• Carmelo Maria Musarella;
• Chiachung Chen;
• Chiman Kwan;
• Cristian Busu;
• Danil Pimenov;
• Dan-Cristian Dabija;
• Delfín Ortega-Sánchez;
• Demetrio Antonio Zema;
• Denis Butusov;
• Elena Lucchi;
• Gaurab Dutta;
• Livia Anastasiu;
• M. R. Safaei.

For more information about how to become a reviewer of MDPI journals, please see: www.mdpi.com/reviewers.

UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. In 2020 the SDG Publishers Compact was launched, aimed to inspire publishers and accelerate progress to achieve the 17 goals by 2030. Members of the programme are committed to support the publication of materials that will promote and inspire actions towards SDGs.

MDPI is an eager advocate of SDGs and has already been supporting the programme by creating Special Issues and publishing a series of books on SDGs prior to joining the Compact in 2021. MDPI's Sustainability Foundation initiated the World Sustainability Awards in 2016. We fully support UN's goals to promote sustainable actions that make the world a better place for all and, as part of its commitment, we will focus our actions on SDG10: Reduced Inequalities whilst promoting all 17 SDGs. For more details, please visit the programme’s website: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-publishers-compact/.

Joining this initiative was a unanimous decision. MDPI has in its core values the dissemination of science for all, breaking the wall between research access and under-represented members of the scientific community and the general population. To support this initiative further and continue to support under-represented scientists, MDPI will take a series of actions that will be announced once ready.

The first action MDPI takes is to nominate Dr. Liliane Auwerter as the coordinator of the programme. Dr. Auwerter studied Environmental Process Technology (UTFPR, Brazil), obtained her MSc degree in Water and Environmental Engineering (University of Surrey, UK) and in 2020 completed her PhD in self-healing low-friction materials for water transport (Imperial College London, UK), always focusing on diverse scientific projects that would potentially bring sustainability to industrial processes. As a student in Brazil, she engaged in volunteering activities focused on environmental education and took part in the Millennial Development Goals meetings held at the university.

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Liliane Auwerter
Scientific Officer
liliane.auwerter@mdpi.com

Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220, IF 3.576) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that provides an advanced forum for the science and technology of sensors and their applications. The journal is indexed within Scopus, SCIE (Web of Science), PubMed, MEDLINE, PMC, Embase, Ei Compendex, Inspec, and many other databases.

The Sensors editorial team is pleased to announce this open call for Special Issue proposals, which offers a group of authors the opportunity to work on an interconnected set of papers on an innovative topic. We are soliciting high-quality proposals that will be evaluated in a continuous selection process throughout the year.

Proposals for a Special Issue should have a well-articulated, unifying topic and reflect, on an international level, the best work in a particular research area (either an established or an important emerging area), in which future investigations may be propelled by the publication of a set of novel research papers. Hence, an international group of Guest Editors and a few high-quality planned papers are always encouraged when it comes to proposals.

Proposals for Special Issues should be sent to the Editorial Office (sensors@mdpi.com) or via the website: https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/sensors.

The following information should be provided in a proposal:

• A 200–400-word summary that clearly states the significance, novelty, technical advancement, and adherence to the scope of the journal of the proposed topic;
• A list of 5–10 keywords on the topic;
• A brief resume of the proposed Guest Editors, together with their information (title, name, email, affiliation, personal website, keywords of interests);
• A proposed submission deadline (a Special Issue will usually be open for submissions for 6–8 months);
• A list of at least 20 potential contributors, or a list of 8 planned papers.

As a Guest Editor, you would be responsible for:

• Inviting papers from your peers to be published in this Special Issue and to take advantage of our high publicity of open access publishing, our rapid and high-quality peer-review process, and immediate publication after acceptance;
• Checking the suitability of abstracts/manuscripts submitted to the Special Issue;
• Making pre-check decisions regarding whether to send a new submission to peer review;
• Making final decisions regarding whether to accept or reject a paper based on peer-review outcomes.

As a Guest Editor, you would have the following privileges:

• A recognition certificate as a Guest Editor of Sensors;
• Publishing one paper free of charge in your Special Issue;
• Inviting high-quality papers to be published in your Special Issue free of charge or with certain discounts;
• If the Special Issue is successful, with at least 10 accepted manuscripts after full peer review, we can organize it into a printed book and send you a free one as a gift.

Editorial Office’s role:

The Editorial Office will set up the Special Issue website, arrange the promotional material, assist with invitations for paper contributions, and take care of the administrative tasks associated with peer review, including inviting reviewers, collating reports, contacting authors, and arranging professional production before publication.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office (sensors@mdpi.com) if you are interested and would like further details and clarifications.

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Wonsuk (Daniel) Lee has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the newly established Section “Smart Agriculture” in Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220).

Name: Prof. Dr. Wonsuk (Daniel) Lee
Email: wslee@ufl.edu
Affiliation: Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0570, USA
Homepage: https://abe.ufl.edu/people/faculty/wonsuk-lee/
Keywords: precision agriculture; machine vision; sensing systems

Prof. Dr. Wonsuk (Daniel) Lee is a Full Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Florida. He received B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees at Seoul National University, Korea, in 1986 and 1988, respectively. In 1998, he received his Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of California, Davis. His areas of specialization include sensing systems, precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, farm automation, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), geographic information systems (GIS), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), image processing, machine vision, yield monitoring/mapping, variable rate fertilizer application, instrumentation, machinery, and agricultural mechanization. He draws from all these areas to develop solutions for a wide range of agricultural problems, and is currently working on developing sensing systems for specialty crops for precision agriculture in Florida.

Lee's skills also include a wide range of supporting technologies and novel applications, such as autonomous weed control systems, immature green citrus fruit detection, autonomous yield mapping for immature citrus fruit, apple Marssonina blotch (AMB) disease detection, citrus greening disease (Huanglongbing) detection, blueberry fruit detection for yield mapping, citrus black spot (CBS) disease detection, and strawberry flower and fruit detection for yield prediction. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).  

Prof. Lee shared with us his vision for the journal and his views of the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?

The Sensors journal has a good reputation with a high impact factor and fast manuscript processing. Recently, smart agriculture has become one of the most attractive and interesting research topics around the world. I have been working on developing sensing systems for crop production during my career, so I wanted to contribute more to the development of sensors and sensing systems for agriculture by serving as the Section Editor-in-Chief.

2. What is your vision for the journal?

In the Section “Smart Agriculture”, I would like to introduce state-of-the-art technologies for sensors and sensing systems for crop production, animal production, and aquaculture. Most of the time, sensors and sensing systems in agricultural environments need to be rugged, reliable, inexpensive, and easy to use for future adoption. More emphasis would be placed on applications to actual agricultural implementation. 

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?

More efficient crop production will be needed to feed the exponentially growing world population. So, more automated sensors and sensing systems will be developed considering labor-intensive work in agriculture and the current labor shortage. Artificial intelligence is rapidly adopted in agriculture and will play a significant role in smart agriculture.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?

I agree with Open Access, which provides convenient and easy access to research articles and rapid propagation of newly developed technologies, as long as publishing charges are reasonable and affordable.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Wonsuk (Daniel) Lee in taking up his role as Section Editor-in-Chief, and we look forward to him leading Sensors to many more milestones.