Francesco Andriulli
Many of us as members of IEEE AP-S have the opportunity to benefit from the many activities, benefits, sponsorships, and conferences that AP-S has to offer every year. We owe all of this to the many volunteers in our society that support IEEE AP-S with their enthusiasm and commitment at the local, regional, national, and international levels. A central role of this dynamism is the mutual visibility of the different scales, with local activities that are publicized and honored worldwide and international initiatives that are disseminated locally to make sure that everybody knows the great opportunities that our IEEE Society has to offer. The magazine has traditionally served with enthusiasm this dynamic, and we will keep doing so even further with a brand new column that starts in this issue, “AP-S Committees & Activities.” The column’s mission is to present in one place all the upcoming and vibrant initiatives sprouting from our volunteers locally and globally. This will include AdCom activities, AP-S committees’ work and reports, local Chapter news, conference outcomes and reports, and every other relevant initiative from all of those that animate so enthusiastically our Society! I hope you will enjoy this new column, and if you have not done so already, consider volunteering for IEEE AP-S!
This issue will also contain several incredibly interesting articles. Roth et al. [A1] present a nice introduction to circuit quantum electrodynamics devices, a technology that the authors make every effort to present in clear but rigorous way. After discussing superconductivity, the article treats the Josephon junction and finally discusses the realization of the transmon qubit. van’t Klooster et al. [A2] present quite an interesting study on the reflectivity of several materials for radio telescope and space applications. After a preliminary discussion on the topic and a treatment of the main loss aspects, the contribution tests and analyzes several reflector materials, providing quite a rich set of data. The contribution also deals with data related to thin film coatings and terminates with an insightful section of concluding remarks. Youssef et al. [A3] focus on the application of deep learning to RF applications. After a rich review of the state of the art, the article presents a new multistage training approach to deep learning and delineates the experimental setup. The “Results” section terminates the article by presenting a convincing sequence of validation tests and scenarios. Sanchez-Olivares et al. [A4] analyze the key aspects of manufacturing metallic waveguides with a focus on the W band. The article focuses on several fabrication strategies including, among others, both additive and subtractive ones. The article terminates with an insightful discussion and comparison among all presented techniques. Yin and Wu [A5] give a comprehensive review of and summarize the developments of endfire circular polarized planar antennas. After a complete introduction, the article focuses on several types of realizations of CP antennas, comparing and discussing the advantages and disadvantages. The contribution is closed by final remarks that summarize the review and delineate current and future application perspectives. Marchetti et al. [A6] study the depointing phenomena caused by snow when accumulating on radomes. The article is characterized by a rich measurement campaign that is nicely complemented by numerical assessments and insightful and practical analyses. Rafidul et al. [A7] investigate the origin of cross-polarized radiation in microstrip patches: after a general and comprehensive introduction, the article embarks on a detailed analysis of different scenarios of interest for applications, and finally, it focuses on the findings in a specific design case and draws insightful conclusions that close the article. Finally, Khajehnasiri [A8] provides a theoretical analysis underpinning the two-step over-the-air testing method with applications in 5G technologies. After a general introduction, the article describes the experimental setup and then focuses on the effective isotropic sensitivity, terminating the contribution with discussions and conclusions. Enjoy the reading!
Appendix: Related Articles
[A1] T. E. Roth, R. Ma, and W. C. Chew, “The Transmon qubit for electromagnetics engineers: An introduction,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 8–20, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2022.3176593.
[A2] C. G. M. van’t Klooster, V. V. Parshin, E. A. Serov, and A. B. Smolders, “On the reflectivity of materials for radio telescope and space antenna applications: Antenna reflector loss needs to be known for many specific antenna applications,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 21–33, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2022.3203295.
[A3] K. Youssef et al., “Scalable undersized dataset RF classification: Using convolutional multistage training,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 34–47, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2022.3208813.
[A4] P. Sanchez-Olivares et al., “Manufacturing guidelines for W-band full-metal waveguide devices: Selecting the most appropriate technology,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 48–62, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2022.3143435.
[A5] Y. Yin and K. Wu, “Endfire circularly polarized planar antennas: A review of their development,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 63–75, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2022.3154977.
[A6] M. Marchetti, D. Arenare, F. Concaro, and M. Pasian, “On de-pointing effects caused by snow accumulation on radomes for ground stations working at K-band: An analysis of the SNOWBEAR project,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 76–91, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2022.3229258.
[A7] S. Rafidul, D. Guha, and C. Kumar, “Sources of cross-polarized radiation in microstrip patches: Multiparametric identification and insights for advanced engineering,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 92–103, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2022.3143434.
[A8] A. Khajehnasiri, “The curious case of effective isotropic sensitivity: Polarization mismatch in over-the-air testing of wireless user equipment,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 104–116, Apr. 2023, doi: 10.1109/MAP.2022.3169393.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MAP.2023.3246112