IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2014 - 3

from the editor
by Lorenzo bruzzone

his issue of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Magazine concludes the second year of life of this
publication. During this second year we observed an
increasing interest from the remote sensing community in the content of the magazine. This proves the
relevance of this publication and also its capability to
fill a gap in the portfolio of the Geoscience and Remote
Sensing Society (GRSS) publications. During this year
we established new columns (e.g., the Space Agency column) and published very interesting tutorial and features articles. This was possible due to the work of the
Editorial Board and the high quality articles submitted
by the community. I would like to take this opportunity
for thanking all the people who contributed to the success of the IEEE GRSM.
In the third year of life of this magazine we will
have many news. One of the most important is that
we will start with the publication of special issues.
We have two special issues currently running (one on
Data Fusion in Remote Sensing, the other on Advances in
Machine Learning for Remote Sensing and Geosciences).
This December issue also contains calls for papers for
two upcoming special issues, one on Big Data from
Space and the other on Earth Science Satellite Applications in the Developing World. The goal of the special
issues is to have coherent thematic issues that can
address from a technical perspective emerging and
appealing topics. Note that unlike other IEEE GRSS
journals, the papers in the IEEE GRSM special issues
have a tutorial and overview technical value. I encourage you to contact me if you are interested in proposing a future special issue.
This issue opens with a main Feature article on
the remote sensing using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) bistatic radar opportunity. The
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MGRS.2014.2377612
Date of publication: 26 January 2015

december 2014

ieee Geoscience and remote sensing magazine

paper describes the approach adopted to use reflected
GNSS signals in remote sensing applications. In this
approach, the GNSS transmitter and a receiver capable
of processing GNSS scattered signals of opportunity
become a bistatic radar. The tutorial describes this
recent remote sensing technique, presents an overview of current and planned spacecraft missions, and
discusses some interesting results already obtained by
this technique.
The Space Agency column presents an article that
describes in detail the activities developed at the
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which
coordinates the space activities
in India.
The Technical Committee colIn 2015 the magazIne
umn describes the activities of
wIll start to publIsh
the Instruments and Future TechspecIal Issues on topIcs
nologies Technical Committee
of broad Interest
(IFT TC). The article presents the
for the geoscIence
principal goals and activities of
and remote sensIng
the committee.
communIty.
The Chapter column, after a
brief introduction of the Chapter
Chair of IEEE GRSS Prof. Paolo
Gamba, contains two contributions. The first is an
article on the activities developed by the French GRSS
chapter. The second presents the recently established
Saudi Arabia GRSS chapter.
The Education column presents an article on remote
sensing research and education at the Valencia University, Spain.
The Reports column contains four articles. Two of
these articles are related to IGARSS. The first introduces IGARSS 2015, to be held in Milano, Italy, on July
26-31, 2015. It includes the main technical themes and
key features of IGARSS 2015. I encourage all of you to
attend this premier conference. The second article refers
to IGARSS 2014, held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada,
3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2014