Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 25-6 - 3

guesteditorial
Domenico Capriglione, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio
Pere Barlet-Ros, Technical University of Catalonia-Barcelona Tech
Antonio Espirito Santo, University of Beira Interior
Special Issue on Measurements, Sensors and Standards in
Modern Communication Networks
I
n the last years, communication networks have become a
central piece for many applications in multiple domains,
including commercial and industrial systems, personal
care and medicine, modern vehicles and vehicular networks,
and environmental and disaster early-warning monitoring,
to cite a few examples. Each application field has specific constraints
regarding data rate, connectivity, security, immunity
to electromagnetic disturbances, coverage area, and power
consumption. Therefore, designers and researchers are continuously
engaged in new challenges for reaching the expected
targets in terms of performance and actual applicability in the
field while considering the costs and requirements in designing
suitable architectures warranting scalability, the required
level of security and effective maintainability, and resilience.
Consequently, network metrology and measurements play
a fundamental role in addressing these challenges to meet the
specific constraints and expected performance of network applications.
The standardization in these application areas is
also crucial because it assures standard and reliable measurement
procedures for characterization and benchmarking of
systems and devices, as well as the interoperability among devices
offered by different vendors.
In this context, six papers have been accepted for publication
after a careful review process. The accepted papers
address several aspects of the fields mentioned above by
covering different network layers and frequency ranges.
The variety of selected papers reflects the efforts made
by all authors to focus on methodological aspects and
technical issues in several fields of Measurements and
Networking.
In more detail, in one of the articles, the problem of positioning
in complex environments is faced by analyzing the
leading causes of uncertainty and proposing suitable measurement
procedures and processing techniques to improve the
positioning accuracy.
In another article, the critical issue of the time synchronization
for modern smart grid implementation is analyzed by
describing the methods allowable by the technical standard
in force (IEC Standard 61850-5:2013) and by showing some
straightforward procedures able to reduce synchrophasor
phase estimation uncertainty.
A third article proves how the Asia-Europe link could be
effectively adopted for implementing the Two-way satellite
time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) in calculating coordinated
universal time (UTC). Indeed, the Bureau International
des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) adopts this technique. The accuracy
reached demonstrates how the Asia-Europe TWSTFT link
could be used for UTC time transfer after a suitable procedure
calibration based on GPS PPP.
In the fourth article, Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques
are tested in real scenarios for evaluating the performance of
a network delay predictor, which assists a measurement system
through the use of machine learning (ML). The achieved
accuracy is very attractive since it is above 90%, thanks to the
adoption of the ML with software engineering's well-known
concept of Development Operations and the employment of
transfer learning.
Another article describes the important role of measurements
in developing a Security Operations Center (SOC) for
detecting and managing cyber security attacks. An overview of
the current techniques and methods for infrastructure monitoring
in the context of cyber security is provided, mainly focusing
on security information event management (SIEM) systems.
Finally, the last article investigates uncertainties in typical
small-signal and large-signal amplifier parameters measured
using a vector network analyzer (VNA). Methods to evaluate
the measurement uncertainty in return losses, input power,
output power, power gain, and 1 dB compression point are
discussed and applied to a commercial amplifier between
0.5 GHz and 8 GHz.
We offer sincere thanks to Prof. Bruno Andò, who supported
this SI in the role of Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE
Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine. A special thank you
goes to the authors for the time and effort they dedicated to
preparing their manuscripts and to all the highly qualified reviewers
whose work made the publication of this SI possible.
We would also like to thank Kristy Virostek for her precious
support in handling the editorial process.
September 2022
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
3
Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 25-6

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