Direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation plays a crucial role in array signal processing across various domains, including radar, sonar, wireless communications, and seismic exploration. However, traditional DOA techniques often assume either far-field (FF) or near-field (NF) propagation, limiting their applicability in scenarios involving mixed-field sources. DOA estimation and localization in scenarios involving mixed NF and FF sources is a complex and dynamic field that has garnered significant research attention in recent years. This multifaceted and evolving area holds promise for addressing challenges in radar, wireless communications, and acoustic sensing applications. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of the methodologies, techniques, and advancements in this domain. We categorize existing methodologies, discussing their advantages and limitations. Furthermore, we delve into the mathematical modeling of mixed-field sources and essential signal processing techniques for parameter estimation. Special attention is given to technical issues such as aperture loss, computational complexity, and hardware considerations. The paper discusses the various sources of noise in the mentioned scenario and highlights the importance of modeling noise accurately for effective estimation. It also explores different scenarios and assumptions considered in the literature, ranging from non-Gaussian and non-stationary noise environments to scenarios involving multipath propagation and unknown mutual coupling effects. A detailed examination of the statistical approaches used in DOA estimation and localization reveals a diverse range of methods, including higher-order statistics and second-order statistics, each with its own advantages and applications. A comparative evaluation of various approaches highlights their performance in terms of estimation accuracy, resolution, aperture loss and computational efficiency. This provides insights into the trade-offs involved in choosing between different approaches. The review also identifies promising future research directions, such as the exploration of advanced signal processing techniques like compressive sensing and deep learning, exact NF modeling, estimation based on one-bit measurements, the integration of polarization diversity, employing metasurface antennas, tracking parameters, and the utilization of full-wave or experimental data for a more realistic representation of the challenges. By reviewing advances in methodologies and techniques, as well as outlining future research directions aimed at addressing the complexities of mixed-field scenarios, this paper paves the way for the development of more robust and reliable localization systems capable of handling real-world complexities.

In this paper, we present a two-dimensional dynamic metasurface aperture to perform computational polarimetric microwave imaging for the first time. First, a novel tunable dual-polarized metamaterial radiator element integrated with two PIN diodes is designed to radiate and capture crossand co-polarized field components. The diodes placed in orthogonal positions are simultaneously switched on or off to configure the transmit and receive polarization states. In diode on state, the metamaterial elements are in off state and the element radiated power is low whereas in diode off state, the metamaterial elements are in on state and the element radiated power is high. By sparsely reconfiguring and random assignment of the developed metamaterial elements across the array aperture, dynamic modulation of the radiated fields is achieved. Using this principle, we synthesize polarimetric, spatio-temporally incoherent wave-chaotic modes that facilitate polarimetric computational imaging. Leveraging the novelty of the dualpolarized dynamic characteristics of the wave-chaotic radiation, polarimetric imaging is computed in the near-field region at K-band frequencies and the polarimetric responses of specific targets are retrieved. The approach is verified by electromagnetic full-wave simulations, and imaging a T-shaped object consisting of two orthogonal metal strips, it is demonstrated that the target characteristics from a set of backscatter measurements compressed by the developed dynamic metasurface antenna

In this paper, we propose a new architecture and performance analysis for beam index modulation (BIM) wireless communication implemented with the aid of analog beamforming. The BIM concept is presented in order to extend and adapt the spatial modulation (SM) concept to sparse wireless communication channel environments. It is shown that when compared with the conventional beamforming and SM strategies, the BIM system can achieve higher spectrum efficiency in high signal to noise ratio (SNR) and non-line-of-sight (nLoS) sparse channel scenarios. Furthermore, different to the previous spatial scattering modulation (SSM) work the proposed BIM architectures have reduced hardware complexity, and, importantly, in some nLoS sparse channel conditions the BIM can also outperform the SSM. The above findings were further validated by some demonstrative experiments that were conducted at 10 GHz.

This article reports the design and fabrication of a novel all-metal antenna operating in the millimeter-wave band. Based on the resonant cavity antenna (RCA) concept, the principle of antenna operation is explained, and parametric studies of several key design parameters are provided. A novel impedance matching technique is introduced to broaden the antenna return loss bandwidth. Two gain enhancement methods have been employed to achieve a more directive beam with reduced side lobes and back lobes. The D-band antenna prototypes are produced using i) all-metal printing without any postprocessing; ii) dielectric printing with copper metallization applied later. Comparisons of the simulated and measured results amongst the antennas fabricated using the two additive manufacturing techniques are made. Measurement results of the two antenna prototypes show that the proposed design can achieve a 14.2% bandwidth with a maximum gain of 15.5 dBi at 135 GHz. The present work is the first D-band resonant cavity antenna fabricated using two different 3D printing methods.

In this paper directional modulation (DM) transmitters, designed for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless data transfer are proposed using time-modulated arrays (TMAs). It is shown that by properly designing the switch controlling time sequences the proposed time-modulated OFDM DM systems exhibit promising features, such as i) requires only one radio frequency (RF) chain, ii) the conventional efficient OFDM signal construction approach, i.e., by using inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) modules, can be adopted, iii) it is ‘DM synthesis-free’, meaning that there is no need to re-synthesize the array excitation vectors for different secure communication directions, different modulation schemes, and different DM power efficiencies; and iv) the trade-off between secrecy performance and power efficiency can be flexibly adjusted.

The artificial noise (AN) aided multi-beam directional modulation (DM) technology is capable of wireless physical layer secure (PLS) transmissions for multiple desired receivers in free space. The application of AN, however, makes it less powerefficient for such a DM system. To address this problem, the weighted fractional Fourier transform (WFRFT) technology is employed in this paper to achieve power-efficient multi-beam DM transmissions. Specifically, a power-efficient multi-beam WFRFTDM scheme with cooperative receivers and a power-efficient multi-beam WFRFT-DM scheme with independent receivers are proposed based on frequency diverse array (FDA), respectively. The bit error rate (BER), secrecy rate, and robustness of the proposed multi-beam WFRFT-DM schemes are analyzed. Simulations demonstrate that 1) the proposed multi-beam WFRFT-DM schemes are more power-efficient than the conventional multibeam AN-DM scheme; 2) the transmission security can also be guaranteed even if the eavesdroppers are located close to or the same as the desired receivers; and 3) the proposed multi-beam WFRFT-DM schemes are capable of independent transmissions for different desired receivers with different modulations.