URSI-NG CONFERENCE 2021 ON THE FUTURE OF RADIO COMMUNICATION: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

In 1899, Guglielmo Marconi transmitted a message by radio across the English Channel, and, in 1901; he sent signals across the Atlantic Ocean from Cornwall, England to Signal Hill Newfoundland. Radio communication research has since then developed in leaps and bounds. Today, the developments in radio communication have taken many diverse forms requiring a sound understanding of the processes involved. The widespread availability and applications of radio communication devices in the various emerging fields have also come with prospects and many challenges to the quality of signals being transmitted and received. The challenges can only be substantially mitigated through sound research and understanding of the environment through which radio waves propagate. These and more are the reasons the International Union of Radio Science-Nigeria (URSI-NG), a foremost professional association for radio scientists and engineers in Nigeria have come up to hold the 7th National Annual Conference (Virtual) in 2021titled: The Future of Radio Communication: Prospects and Challenges to foster sharing of knowledge among all the stakeholders including the network service providers, military, etc that will assist in the better understanding of radio wave propagation, especially in a tropical environment. To this end, scholarly research papers are invited from seasoned researchers, engineers, scientists, technologists, students, service providers, and all stakeholders for presentation at the 7th Annual Conference which was held virtually from 22nd to 24th June 2021. For this year’s conference, the virtual mode was chosen. This was due to the prevailing health and security situation within Nigeria. The organizers chose the Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria as the base of operations. The conference was held over a period of three days to properly attend to all submissions. There were three plenary speakers who spoke for thirty minutes each followed by a discussion session. Only oral presentations were allowed due to platform restrictions. Each presenter was given fifteen minutes for the presentation and five minutes for questions and answers. Breakout sessions were created for interactions among participants. In all, about eighty-five participants with thirty-three presenters were registered for the conference. The organizing and editorial committee of the conference will like to appreciate all the authors and reviewers for their support and contributions.