Guest Editorial: Introduction to the Special Issue on Electromagnetic Signal and Information Theory for Communications

To accommodate extremely high data rates, provide high reliability, improve coverage, and meet traffic demands in future wireless communication networks, novel technologies have emerged that exploit electromagnetic waves, large multiple-antenna systems, intelligent reflective surfaces, hardware innovations, new network architectures, and higher frequency bands. Considering advances in information theory and devices, fundamental questions arise for system designers on how to develop synergies between theory and practice. Current design and analysis methods are predominantly based on scalar-quantity, far-field, planar-wavefront, monochromatic, and other non-physically consistent assumptions, which can lead to significant mismatches with systems designed based on realistic propagation models.