Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Aerospace Engineering

Radio Wave Propagation Studies

Radio Wave Propagation Studies is a research topic within Aerospace Engineering. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on radar wave propagation, refractivity estimation, and atmospheric ducting. It includes research on parabolic wave equations, evaporation ducts, tropospheric refractivity, and the impact of meteorological parameters on radio wave propagation. The studies cover a wide range of techniques and models for estimating refractivity from radar sea clutter and ground-based GPS, as well as the development of tools for propagation prediction over variable terrain.

  • Radar Propagation
  • Refractivity Estimation
  • Parabolic Wave Equation
  • Evaporation Duct
  • Tropospheric Refractivity
  • Atmospheric Ducting
  • Radio Wave
  • Ground-Based GPS
  • Electromagnetic Scatterings
  • Meteorological Parameters
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
50% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Radio Wave Propagation Studies

Which countries lead Radio Wave Propagation Studies research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (908 and 257 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 908 works
  2. 2 United States 257 works
  3. 3 India 139 works
  4. 4 Russia 131 works
  5. 5 Japan 88 works
  6. 6 Germany 78 works
  7. 7 South Korea 64 works
  8. 8 Nigeria 58 works
  9. 9 France 54 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 54 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 49.7%United States: 14.1%India: 7.6%Russia: 7.2%6 others listed: 21.5%50%largest
China908 · 49.7%United States257 · 14.1%India139 · 7.6%Russia131 · 7.2%6 others listed394 · 21.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Radio Wave Propagation Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Xidian University publishes the most Radio Wave Propagation Studies research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and National University of Defense Technology.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Xidian UniversityChina 46 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 46 works
  3. 3 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 36 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 33 works
  5. 5 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 30 works
  6. 6 United States Department of DefenseUnited States 22 works
  7. 7 Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 19 works
  8. 8 Beihang UniversityChina 18 works
  9. 9 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 17 works
  10. 10 Southeast UniversityChina 15 works

Who are the leading researchers in Radio Wave Propagation Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Radio Wave Propagation Studies include Xiaogang Wang, Kai You Wang and Douglas Scott.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 Douglas Scott Canada 172k citations
  4. 4 H. Vincent Poor United States 165k citations
  5. 5 Han Zhang China 161k citations
  6. 6 W. Walkowiak France 145k citations
  7. 7 R. W. Moore Australia 145k citations
  8. 8 Subir Sarkar Germany 143k citations
  9. 9 Martin Erdmann Germany 135k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Radio Wave Propagation Studies?

The most cited paper in Radio Wave Propagation Studies is "Optimal LAP Altitude for Maximum Coverage" (Akram Al‐Hourani, Sithamparanathan Kandeepan, Simon Lardner, 2014), with 3,274 citations. Next come "Millimeter Wave Channel Modeling and Cellular Capacity Evaluation" (2,615) and "Survey on Free Space Optical Communication: A Communication Theory Perspective" (2,503).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Optimal LAP Altitude for Maximum Coverage Akram Al‐Hourani, Sithamparanathan Kandeepan, Simon Lardner · IEEE Wireless Communications Letters Open access 24 Jul 2014 3,274
2 Millimeter Wave Channel Modeling and Cellular Capacity Evaluation Mustafa Riza Akdeniz, Yuanpeng Liu, Mathew K. Samimi et al. · IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications Open access Jun 2014 2,615
3 Survey on Free Space Optical Communication: A Communication Theory Perspective Mohammad‐Ali Khalighi, Murat Uysal · IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials Open access 2014 2,503
4 Joint Radar and Communication Design: Applications, State-of-the-Art, and the Road Ahead Fan Liu, Christos Masouros, Athina P. Petropulu et al. · IEEE Transactions on Communications Open access 14 Feb 2020 2,001
5 Metamaterials: Physics and Engineering Explorations Nader Engheta, Richard W. Ziolkowski · CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) 2006 1,243
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Radio Wave Propagation Studies research done?

The largest centres of Radio Wave Propagation Studies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Nanjing (China) and Chengdu (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Xi'an, Saint Petersburg and Changsha.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 191 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 121 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 74 works
  4. 4 ChengduChina 57 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 56 works
  6. 6 MoscowRussia 51 works
  7. 7 ChangshaChina 42 works
  8. 8 TokyoJapan 38 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 38 works
  10. 10 Saint PetersburgRussia 25 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Xi'anCN · 121.3 works6.4×
  2. Saint PetersburgRU · 24.8 works3.9×
  3. ChangshaCN · 41.7 works3.5×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Radio Wave Propagation Studies than the world average.

See Radio Wave Propagation Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Radio Wave Propagation Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Southeast University, Xidian University and Tianjin University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 18.1%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Southeast UniversityTianjin UniversityBeijing University o…Xidian University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Southeast UniversityChina 72.129.2%4.8×15 +95.0%
2Xidian UniversityChina 65.811.6%29.9×46 +1.1%
3Tianjin UniversityChina 64.928.3%4.0×10 +415.6%
4Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 63.719.1%13.8×19 +44.6%
5University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 62.010.1%12.7×30 +66.4%
6National University of Defense TechnologyChina 59.810.4%21.7×36 +39.3%
7Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 58.320.1%7.3×14 +65.6%
8Wuhan UniversityChina 54.117.9%5.0×15 +81.0%
9Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 52.918.5%5.9×14 +16.7%
10Xi'an University of TechnologyChina 46.515.8%15.0×10 +97.2%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Radio Wave Propagation Studies, country by country

Is Radio Wave Propagation Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Radio Wave Propagation Studies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Radio Wave Propagation Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Radio Wave Propagation Studies0.0096% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Radio Wave Propagation Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Radio Wave Propagation Studies10.5% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Radio Wave Propagation Studies. Posts are plain text and can be reported.