The tutorial “Introducing Information Metrics for Statistical Signal Processing,” [A1] provided the inspiration for our cover in this issue. In their “Lecture Notes” column, Steve Kay and Kaushallya Adhikari invite us to “a leisurely stroll through the garden of the beautiful information-theoretic flowers that have blossomed over the years.” This ends up being not only a pleasant stroll, but also an enriching one with useful insights into these measures and their interrelationships recounted with precision.

After nearly a century of specialized applications in optics, remote sensing, and acoustics, the near-field (NF) electromagnetic (EM) propagation zone is experiencing a resurgence in research interest. This renewed attention is fueled by the emergence of promising applications in various fields, such as wireless communications, holography, medical imaging, and quantum-inspired systems. 

One year has passed since I began my term as the editor-in-chief (EiC) of IEEE Signal Processing Magazine (SPM). It has been a busy first year, with a rich set of challenges that go beyond those I have experienced in previous volunteer positions. This is welcome: with giving back to our community comes the desire to grow through new challenges and experiences, especially for those of us approaching our wiser years.

As wireless technology begins to utilize physically larger arrays and/or higher frequencies, the transmitter and receiver will reside in each other’s radiative near field. This fact gives rise to unusual propagation phenomena, such as spherical wavefronts and beam focusing, creating the impression that new spatial dimensions—called degrees of freedom (DOF)—can be exploited in the near field.