The city of Berlin, located in the heart of Germany, is known for its rich history and modern infrastructure. Situated on the river Spree, Berlin offers a wide range of attractions: the historic district of Mitte, the iconic Brandenburg Gate, the renowned Museum Island, and the vibrant street art scene of Kreuzberg are just a few highlights that make Berlin a must-visit destination. With its diverse neighborhoods, beautiful parks, and world-class cultural institutions, Berlin has something to offer for everyone.

In response to the call for papers, in total more than 112 papers from 30 different countries have been received. The Technical Programme Committee selected 94 submitted papers for oral and poster presentations and prepared a substantial and interesting conference programme. This fantastic response shows the worldwide large interest in radar techniques and radar systems for many different applications (automotive radar, drone detection, passive radar, radar data science, radar imaging, etc.). Thus, a general objective of this international conference to meet radar scientists and engineers for fruitful discussions and exchange of ideas was fully reached.

In total almost 189 radar experts from 24 different countries attended this symposium in Berlin to present their work and 8 exhibitors showed their excellent products. There were strong delegations from Germany, UK, Poland, China, Finland, Italy, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Japan, Ungarn, etc.

There was an important highlight event during the Symposium: the Christian Hülsmeyer Award was given for outstanding contributions in radar system design and development as well as educational achievements and IRS conference evolution. The award was presented to Marina Gashinova from University of Birmingham, UK. The Award ceremony with more than 180 attendees took place in the Wasserwerk in Berlin.

In the Closing Session, the IRS 2023 Best Paper Award “A CMOS-based 140 GHz 4x4 MIMO Radar Prototype with 10 GHz Bandwidth” was presented to André Bourdoux, Marc Bauduin, Kristof Vesen, Miguel Glassée, Eddy De Greef, Thomas Gielen and Ilja Ocket.  

Due to the compelling results obtained from the evaluation, this year marked the first time that the Young Scientist Award was presented twice.

The first Young Scientist Award “5G Network-Based Passive Radar for Drone Detection” was presented to Radosław Maksymiuk, Marek Płotka, Karol Abratkiewicz and Piotr Samczýnski.

The second Young Scientist Award “150 GHz radar imagery using Doppler Beam Sharpening for marine sensing” was presented to Dillon Kumar, Marina Gashinova, Anum Pirkani, Andrew Stove, Liam Daniel, Samuel Harris, Edward Hoare and Mikhail Cherniakov.

Radar technique is still an expanding and rapidly evolving field of research. There is a continuous progress in system performance that opens up many practical applications in the civilian as well as the military area. This International Radar Symposium will be an opportunity for radar experts from all over the world to meet, exchange results, and discuss new ideas.

Together with the Co-Chair Krzysztof Kulpa and the DGON organization, the whole conference organization team is looking forward to meeting you again at the next IRS from 2-4 July 2024 in Wrocław, Poland!