SPECIAL SESSION #03

Alfonso Farina

LFIEEE, FIET, Fellow of EURASIP Selex-ES (Retired) - Rome, Italy

• alfonso.farina@outlook.it

Salvatore Ponte

Department of Engineering, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli” - Aversa, Italy

• salvatore.ponte@unicampania.it

Giovanni Palmerini

School of Aerospace Engineering – University “La Sapienza” – Rome, Italy

• giovanni.palmerini@uniroma1.it

Stefano Carletta

School of Aerospace Engineering – University “La Sapienza” – Rome, Italy

• stefano.carletta@uniroma1.it

Francesco De Angelis

School of Aerospace Engineering – University “La Sapienza” – Rome, Italy

• fr.deangelis@uniroma1.it

The field of underwater acoustics is rapidly evolving, offering a dynamic environment where theory and practice meet to address real-world challenges. This special session aims to capture this frontier, connecting innovative theoretical insights with practical, multidisciplinary applications in engineering and technology, bringing together researchers, engineers, and practitioners working on the science, technology, and applications of underwater acoustics across diverse domains.

This Special Session is aimed at academics, industry professionals, and government researchers working in underwater acoustics, aerospace metrology, ocean engineering, and defense applications. Interdisciplinary contributions are strongly encouraged. The session welcomes contributions in both theoretical and applied aspects of underwater acoustics, including but not limited to:

• Acoustic wave propagation in shallow and deep waters;
• Metrology for sonar and underwater acoustic sensors;
• Modeling and simulation of underwater acoustic channels;
• Sonar systems: design, signal processing, and performance evaluation;
• Acoustic sensing for oceanography, marine biology, and environmental monitoring;
• Underwater communication networks and MIMO acoustic systems;
• Noise characterization and mitigation in marine environments;
• Applications in aerospace, defense, security, maritime surveillance and security;
• Innovative acoustic technologies for offshore energy and subsea exploration;
• Emerging trends: AI-driven acoustic analysis, machine learning for sonar data, hybrid sensing systems, simulation frameworks.

Alfonso Farina received the degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy, and a Ph.D. H.C. in ICT from the University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy. From 1973 to 2014, he worked at Selex ES until he became Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Currently, he is President of the Leonardo Radar & Sensors Academy and President of the Underwater and Sensors Systems of the Leonardo Electronics Division.
Alfonso is a Fellow of IEEE, IET, Royal Academy of Engineering, Académico Correspondiente de la Real Academia de Ingeniería de España, European Academy of Science, and National Academy of Engineering (USA). Dr. Farina was a recipient of the Fred Nathanson Memorial Radar Award (1987), Finmeccanica Award for Innovation Technology (2004), IEEE Dennis J. Picard Medal for Radar Technologies and Applications (2010), Oscar Masi Award (2012), IET Achievement Medal (2014), IEEE SPS Industrial Leader Award (2017), Christian Hülsmeyer Award (2019), IEEE AESS Pioneer Award (2020) and the ISIF Yaakov Bar-Shalom Award for a Lifetime of Excellence in Information Fusion (2025).
His main best paper awards include the M. Barry Carlton of IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems (2001, 2003, and 2013), the IET Proceedings on Radar Sonar and Navigation (2009–2010), and the International Conference on Fusion (2005).
A multifaceted engineer, scientist, and university professor, he is among the 2% top world scientists and one of the world's leading experts on radar systems.

Salvatore Ponte (member, IEEE) received the Laurea degree cum laude in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy and the Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1995. He works at the Department of Engineering of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Aversa (CE), Italy, where he teaches “Aerospace Avionics Navigation Systems”, “Remote Sensing” and “Satellite Navigation and GNSS”. He has authored or coauthored more than 70 scientific publications on peer-reviewed international journals and conference proceedings, book chapters and co-editor of two Special Issues (published by MDPI) of books devoted to autonomous UAV/UAS navigation. He is scientific reviewer of more than 20 international journals (IEEE Access, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace Electronic Systems, MDPI, IET, Elsevier) and he has been member of scientific committees of various national and international conferences.
Since 1997 he has been PI or Co-I of different national and international research projects, also participating in summer schools and Masterclasses on radar and ground-based and satellite-based navigation as an invited speaker, presenting lectures on various topics related to radar, air traffic management, navigation, positioning and timing (PNT) systems. He plays a role in consulting and training for various Italian companies, and since 2022 he is member of the advisory board of Leonardo’s Radar & Sensors Academy (Leonardo Company, Rome, Italy). His research activities concern avionics navigation systems, remote sensing image processing, radar and underwater signal processing, GPS/GNSS applications and data processing, and innovative configurations for UAV/UAS systems.

Giovanni B. Palmerini received the laurea degree cum laude in Aeronautical Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome in 1991 and the PhD in Aerospace Engineering in 1996. Being abroad as a visiting student at NASA Langley in 1991, and a visiting scholar at Stanford in 1996, he briefly worked as a consultant engineer for Italspazio, before coming back to the university to be part of the team designing, manufacturing and launching (2000) the Italian first, and world’s second, university microsatellite UNISAT. Giovanni taught at both Sapienza and University of Bologna and is currently full professor of Navigation and Space Systems at the School of Aerospace Engineering of Sapienza, where he was also dean from 2021 to 2025. Lifetime member of the International Academy of Astronautics, he is a member of IEEE and ION, and a senior member of AIAA. Research interest, presented in a number of publications in excess of 200, include orbital dynamics, with a focus on satellite constellations and formation flying, and spacecraft GNC, especially with experimental work dealing with flexibility effects. Passionate about inertial, satellite-based and integrated navigation, was the author of an original study about use of GNSS en-route to the Moon and is currently working on lunar GNSS systems.

Stefano Carletta is Assistant Professor in Flight Mechanics at the School of Aerospace Engineering (SIA) of Sapienza University of Rome. His research focuses on the analysis of space missions, the development and experimental testing of satellite guidance and control systems, and the development of innovative hypersonic launch and reentry vehicles.
At SIA, he teaches Flight Mechanics of Hypersonic and High-Altitude Vehicles, Optimal Control and Game Theory in Flight Mechanics, and co-teaches Aerodynamics of Continuous and Rarefied Flows.
He holds a PhD in Space Science (2016-2020) and the Special Master of Aerospace Engineering (2015-2016). He has been a permanent member of the International Academy of Astronautics since 2024. In the past he has been post-doc and contract lecturer at SIA (2020-2023), visiting researcher at the Space Science Center of Morehead State University (2016), Adecco consultant at Avio Srl (2015) and an intern for the Italian Aerospace Research Center (2014).

Francesco De Angelis obtained a B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome. He subsequently completed a Ph.D. in Electrical, Materials and Nanotechnological Engineering (EMNE). As demonstrated in the research conducted between 2014 and 2017, the specialism of this text pertains to data centers. He holds a Master certification in Venture Capital Dynamics & Startup Engagement from LUISS University. He is currently enrolled in a master's program in Aerospace Engineering at the School of Aerospace Engineering in Rome.
His professional background involves both aeronautical and systems engineering across both the civil and military domains. He has more than 15 years of professional experience at Leonardo S.p.a., including maritime surveillance and air traffic control. His specializations encompass the domains of Radar system design and construction, at both domestic and international levels. He was most recently responsible for the management of the Electronic Division's product and systems catalogue in the CTO Land & Sea Business at Leonardo. In addition, He has also published several IEEE papers on maritime topics, data centers, GNSS and Radar fusion.