Special Session #20

SPECIAL SESSION #20

Alfonso Farina

Selex-ES (retired), Rome, Italy

Danilo Orlando

University of Pisa, Italy

Papers are being collected from university researchers, from industries specialized in conceiving, designing, installing, operating and testing radar systems for civilian and defense applications, from users and governmental/international agencies. Authors are also invited from industries that provide instruments to test radar performances. The scope of the special session is to have a wide view of the methods, instruments and practical experience to test subsystems and radar systems (for land based, shipborne, on drones, aircraft and satellites).

Alfonso Farina received the Dr. Ing. degree in electronic engineering from the University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy, and a PhD HC in ICT from the University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy. From 1973 to 2014, he worked at Selex ES until he became Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Currently, he is President of the Leonardo Radar & Sensors Academy and President of the Underwater and Sensors Systems of the Leonardo Electronics Division.
Alfonso is a Fellow of IEEE, IET, Royal Academy of Engineering, Académico Correspondiente de la Real Academia de Ingeniería de España, European Academy of Science, and National Academy of Engineering (USA). Dr. Farina was a recipient of the Fred Nathanson Memorial Radar Award (1987), Finmeccanica Award for Innovation Technology (2004), IEEE Dennis J. Picard Medal for Radar Technologies and Applications (2010), Oscar Masi Award (2012), IET Achievement Medal (2014), IEEE SPS Industrial Leader Award (2017), Christian Hülsmeyer Award (2019), and IEEE AESS Pioneer Award (2020). His main best paper awards include the M. Barry Carlton of IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems (2001, 2003, and 2013), the IET Proceedings on Radar Sonar and Navigation (2009–2010), and the International Conference on Fusion (2005).
A multifaceted engineer, scientist, and university professor, he is among the 2% top world scientists and one of the world’s leading experts on radar systems.

Danilo Orlando was born in Gagliano del Capo, Italy, in 1978. He received the Dr. Eng. degree (with honors) in computer engineering and the Ph.D. degree (with maximum score) in information engineering from the University of Salento (formerly University of Lecce), Lecce, Italy, in 2004 and 2008, respectively. From 2007 to 2010, he was with the University of Cassino, Cassino, Italy, engaged in a research project on algorithms for track-before-detect of mul- tiple targets in uncertain scenarios. From September to November 2009, he was a Visiting Scientist with the NATO Undersea Research Centre, La Spezia, Italy. From 2011 to 2015, he was with Elettronica S.p.A. engaged as System Analyst in the field of electronic warfare. From 2015 to 2024, he joined Università degli Studi “Niccolo Cusano,” Rome, Italy, as an Associate Professor. From 2024, he is an Associate Professor with the Department of Information Engineering, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Pisa, Italy. In 2007, he has held visiting positions with the Department of Avionics and Systems, ENSICA (now Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE)), Toulouse, France, and from 2017 to 2019, with the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China. He has authored or coauthored more than 190 scientific publications in international journals, conferences, and books. His main research interests include statistical signal processing with more emphasis on adaptive detection and tracking of multiple targets in multisensor scenarios. Dr. Orlando was Senior Area Editor for IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SIGNAL PROCESSING and is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Open Journal of Signal Processing, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS, EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, and Remote Sensing (MDPI).