IEEE JSTSP Special Issue on Advancing Signal Processing Algorithm for Fluid Antenna Systems (FAS)
Manuscript Due: 31 May 2025
Publication Date: December 2025
The sixth-generation (6G) networks aim to revolutionize wireless communications with ultra-high capacity, ultra-low latency, massive connectivity, and seamless integration of sensing and AI. Achieving this vision requires disruptive advances in antenna and signal processing technologies. Fluid Antenna Systems (FAS), introduced by Wong et al. in 2020, have emerged as a key innovation. FAS include software-controlled structures—such as liquid antennas, RF pixel arrays, movable elements, flexible arrays, and Meta surfaces—that can dynamically reconfigure their shape and radiation in real time. This flexibility enhances spatial diversity, beamforming, interference mitigation, and connectivity, positioning FAS as a foundational technology for future 6G systems.
Despite this promise, FAS poses substantial challenges for conventional signal processing. Dynamic antenna configurations lead to time-varying channels and nonlinear interactions across multiple layers—from baseband and digital front-end (DFE) to analog front-end (AFE) and circuit control. Real-time algorithms are essential for signal acquisition, beam optimization, and reconfiguration tracking. Additionally, joint optimization across digital, analog, and physical layers demands novel architectures capable of supporting low-latency feedback loops, noise-robust filtering, and reconfiguration-aware modulation and coding schemes. Emerging hardware such as low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) further demand co-designed signal processing algorithms that operate under strict timing, energy, and reliability constraints. Meanwhile, the inherent NP-hardness of antenna adaptation problems calls for efficient heuristic, learning-based, or hybrid optimization strategies.
This special issue aims to highlight the theoretical, algorithmic, and practical advances in signal processing for fluid antenna systems, bridging the gap between reconfigurable antenna hardware and real-world 6G applications. We seek contributions that address open challenges in modeling, optimization, hardware-algorithm co-design, and field deployment of FAS-based systems. Submissions from both academic and industrial researchers are encouraged, particularly those demonstrating real-time operation, cross-layer integration, or AI-powered adaptation in dynamic wireless environments. By advancing signal processing techniques tailored for FAS, this special issue aspires to catalyze the next generation of intelligent, adaptive, and high-performance wireless systems.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Optimal precoding and signal processing algorithms for FAS
- Distributed and decentralized signal processing for FAS
- Adaptive modulation and coding techniques for FAS
- Semantic encoding and decoding for FAS
- Online or real-.me signal processing for FAS
- Channel estimation and reconstruction for FAS
- Interference cancellation and mitigation for FAS
- Non-coherent signal processing for multi-user FAS
- Large Language Model (LLM)-driven techniques for FAS
- Near-field communication and localization algorithm for FAS
- Cross-layer integration, implementation, and design of FAS
- Case studies and experimental evaluations involving signal processing for FAS
Submission Guidelines
The Guest Editors also welcome creative papers outside the areas listed above but related to the overall scope of the special issue. Prospective authors may contact the Guest Editors to ascertain interest on topics that are not listed, and should follow the instructions given on the IEEE JSTSP webpage and submit their manuscripts via the IEEE Author Portal submission system. All submitted manuscripts will be peer-reviewed according to the standard IEEE process. Papers should be submitted through EDAS according to the following schedule.
Important Dates
- Manuscript Submission Due: 15 August 2025
- First Review Due: 26 September 2025
- Second Review Completed: 5 December 2025
- Final Manuscript Due: 15 December 2025
- Planned Publication: March 2026
Guest Editors
For further information, please contact the guest editor:
Prof. Kai-Kit Wong (Lead Guest Editor), University College London, UK
Dr. Zhen Chen, University of Macau, China
Dr. Hao Xu, Southeast University, China
Dr. Wee Kiat New, Huawei, Singapore
Prof. Constantinos Papadias, The American College of Greece, Greece
Prof. Athina Petropulu, Rutgers University, USA
Prof. Bjorn ODersten, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Dr. Arman Shojaeifard, InterDigital, United Kingdom
Dr. Kang Kang, China Unicom, China
