MSCA - Postdoctoral Fellowship (PF) on Multidimensional (3D/4D) synthetic aperture RADAR (SAR) [...]

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry and Tomography research group Organisation / Company University of Pisa Department Department of Information Engineering Laboratory Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry and Tomography research group Is the Hosting related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Developments of advanced tomographic SAR computational imaging algorithms and geo-/bio-physical information extraction methods, full 3D, 4D (3D+Time), and higher dimensional; related analytical and simulated performance characterization in realistic conditions Experiments/validations with real SAR data, satellite, airborne and ground-based, on natural (forest, snow/ice, arid zones) scenarios, and urban areas/critical infrastructures; investigations of possible new Earth Observation tomographic application developments System studies for application of tomographic SAR methods to advanced, incoming and possible new RADAR platforms, or for development of new mission concepts tailored to Tomography (in particular with relation to low frequency SARs, companion/tandem or swarm satellite SAR configurations, or ground-based RADARS); possible investigation of synergies with distributed SAR concepts (multichannel SARs or mini-satellite trains)

Applicants should demonstrate a strong research potential and relevant background, with publications in top-ranked journals and conferences in a related research field; a PhD degree in Telecommunications Engineering, or Exploration and Applied Geophysics, Physics, Electronic/Electrical Engineering, Computer Science/Engineering, Applied Mathematics, is of advantage. The University of Pisa, founded in 1343, is one of the largest and top ranked Universities in Italy. Pisa (Tuscany) provides an ideal environment for living. The Department of Information Engineering, one of the largest National and European ICT departments (both for its dimensions and for the quality of its teaching and research activities) focuses on several sectors: Applied Electromagnetics, Automation and Robotics, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electronics, and Telecommunication Engineering including Remote Sensing and RADAR. The Department also hosts a National Research Council (CNR) Institute of Electronics and Information and Telecommunication Engineering, and comprehends multidisciplinary CrossLabs for Industry 4.0. The Department recently obtained for the second time the qualification of Department of Excellence from the Italian Ministry of University and Research. In case of successful application to the MSCA scheme, the researcher will be part of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry and Tomography research group, coordinated by Prof. Lombardini. In the last three decades, the group has carried out cutting-edge research proposing useful new principles and innovative methods, often adopted or further developed in recent SAR techniques by different worldwide level research groups, space institutions, and enterprises. These innovations include the principle of optimal coherent SAR data combination in SAR Interferometry; the use of superresolution algorithms in SAR Tomography in particular Capon; the mode of 4D and higher order Differential SAR Tomography for both urban and natural scene analyses. The group has carried out several national and international research projects in the field, in particular has been in charge of performing 3D airborne tomographic analyses of boreal forests in a study by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the frame of the first supporting campaign for the BIOMASS satellite mission, and of developing 4D Differential Tomography methods for deformation monitoring in complex urban areas in studies funded by the EC, with Telespazio/E-Geos, and by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the latter project with COSMO-Skymed satellite data. The group has published relevant papers on SAR Interferometry and on urban/forest Tomography and 4D SAR imaging; in the last few years it also opened new visions in temporal decorrelation and its mitigation in SAR Tomography. The group has access to satellite / airborne SAR and ground-based RADAR datasets and to top-level facilities, including ground-based mini-RADARS; other HW and SW resources are provided by the campus, including a supercomputing facility, licences for scientific software as MATLAB, and access to the IEEE and Scopus digital libraries. Prof. Fabrizio Lombardini (IEEE Senior Member '03), PhD, is Associate Professor at the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Pisa. During his career, he has been recipient of a Marie Curie fellowship of the Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) Program, which he spent as postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering of University College London, UK. He has also been Visiting Researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA, Radar Science and Engineering Section, CA, and at the Microwave and Radar Institute, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Munich. He has been Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (JSTARS) for 5 years. He has authored or co-authored more than 140 papers (peer-review journals and proceedings of international conferences), and holds 1 european and 2 national patents. He is on the World’s Top 2% Scientists list by Stanford University. Prof. Lombardini’s general interests are in the areas of statistical signal processing, estimation and detection, super-resolution and robust spectral analysis, array and multidimensional signal processing, irregular sampling and sparse signal reconstruction, knowledge-based signal processing, scattering models, and performance bounds evaluation, with application to RADAR systems and SAR environmental remote sensing. In particular, his research interests in Earth Observation include multibaseline and multifrequency Interferometric SAR algorithms, both cross- and along-track, and system feasibility studies, 3D SAR Tomography, and Differential SAR Interferometry. He has originated the new mode of 4D and higher order SAR imaging (4-/5-D Differential SAR Tomography). He has organized and chaired more than 20 special sessions, and has been lecturer of more than 10 tutorials on these topics, at international conferences (mostly IEEE). Eligibility criteria Experience : Applicantsmust have a PhD degree at the time of the deadline for applications ( 9th September 2026). Applicants who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will also be considered eligible to apply. At the call deadline, the applicant must have amaximum of 8 years experience in research, from the date of the award of their PhD degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks will not count towards the above maximum, nor will years of experience in research in non-associated third countries, for nationals or long-term residents of EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries who wish to reintegrate to Europe. Competences : Preferred background and expertise in Signal theory and processing, (linear) System analysis, Probability random variables and random signals, Complex and Matrix algebra, Remote sensing and RADAR methods and/or systems; competences of advantage are Synthetic aperture RADAR (SAR), SAR Interferometry, Statistics and/or Parameter estimation or detection, Mathematical modelling and Inverse problems, Numerical calculus, Programming (MATLAB or IDL). Good written and spoken English is required. Mobility Rule: The applicant may be of any nationality but must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before 9th September 2026.

Complete and updated CV, clearly demonstrating all 3 eligibility requirements.

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