The officers of Commission F during the triennium 2002-2005 have been Prof. Martti Hallikainen (Finland), Chair, and Prof. Piotr Sobieski (Belgium), Vice Chair. Immediate Past Chair has been Dr. Yoji Furuhama (Japan). Commission F has been active during the triennium through its Working Groups, by sponsoring meetings and symposia, and by preparing the scientific program for the General Assembly 2005.

The following Terms of Reference of Commission F were accepted at the General Assembly 2002:

"Commission F – Wave Propagation and Remote Sensing (planetary atmospheres, surfaces and subsurfaces)

The Commission encourages:

(a) The study at all frequencies in a non-ionised environment:

(i) wave propagation through planetary neutral atmospheres and surfaces,

(ii) wave interaction with planetary surfaces and subsurfaces including land, ocean and ice,

(iii) characterization of the environment as it affects wave phenomena;

(b) The application of the results of these studies, particularly in the areas of remote sensing and communications;

(c) The appropriate co-operation with other URSI Commissions and other relevant organizations."

Co-Chair for Commission F: B. Arbesser-Rastburg (The Netherlands)

Co-Chair for Commission G: C. Mitchell (UK)

The joint Working Group organized a special symposium "Atmospheric Remote Sensing Using Satellite Navigation Systems", held from 13-15 October 2003 in Matera, Italy (see Commission F sponsored Mode B meetings).

Co-Chair for Commission G: J. Röttger (Germany)

Co-Chair for Commission F: C.H. Liu (China SRS)

Co-Chair for Commission F: S. Reising (USA)

The URSI Inter-commission Working Group (ICWG) on Solar Power Satellites (SPS) is in the process of composing an URSI White Paper on Solar Power Satellites (SPS).  This white paper is based on inputs from representatives of all URSI Commissions. Commission F input is on the subject of Solar Power Satellites, particularly with respect to concerns of radio frequency interference to remote sensing systems.

Commission F representative: P. Sobieski (Belgium)

Commission F representative: A. Gasiewski (USA)

Commission F representative: J. Isnard (France)

In order to be informed about ITU-R events J. Isnard participated in all SG7 (Study Group 7) sessions (Scientific Services) of ITU-R with the financial support of the French National Committee of URSI. After each session a report was sent to members of SCT Network on current issues discussed and on technical subjects that could be of interest to URSI members. This activity mainly covers the "remote sensing" aspect of F Commission. Moreover, J. Isnard kept in touch with URSI members who participate regularly in SG3 "Propagation" of ITU-R as members of the French ANFR (Frequency Radio Agency) delegation to this ITU-R Study Group.

Commission F Editor for RSB.: P. Sobieski (Belgium)

The following two review articles were collected by M. Hallikainen and published in the Radio Science Bulletin:

- P. Pampaloni and K. Sarabandi: Microwave Remote Sensing of Land (RSB, March 2004, pp. 30-48)

- E. Westwater, S. Crewell, and Ch. Mätzler: A Review of Surface-based Microwave and Millimeterwave Radiometric Remote Sensing of the Troposphere (RSB, September 2004, pp. 59-80).

Commission F sponsored 26 Mode A meetings (no financial support requested) and 6 Mode B meetings (financial support requested). All sponsored meetings are listed below. If the web site is still accessible its address is given.

Mode A Sponsorship:

International Conference on Mathematical Methods in Electromagnetic Theory, Kiev, Ukraine, 10-13 September 2002.

Held in London, United Kingdom, 24-25 October 2002.

2002 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference, Kyoto, Japan, 19-22 November 2002.

Third International School on Atmosphere Radar, ICTP Trieste, Italy, 25 November – 13 December 2002.

Intermediate International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Yokohama, Japan, 26-28 November 2002.

Tenth International Workshop on Technical and Scientific Aspects of MST Radar, Piura, Peru, 20-27 May 2003.

2003 IEEE International Symposium on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Toulouse, France, 21-25 July 2003.

Ninth International Symposium on Microwave and Optical Technology, Ostrava, Czech Republic, 11-15 August 2003.

Held in Budapest, Hungary, 10-11 September 2003.

Held in Marrakech Morocco, 15-17 September 2003.

Workshop on Applications of Radio Science, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 18-20 February 2004.

Fifth International Kharkov Symposium on Physics and Engineering of Microwaves, Millimeter and Submillimeter Waves, Kharkov, Ukraine, 21-26 June 2004.

ICT 2004 African Regional Workshop, Nairobi, 16-20 August 2004.

2004 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Sendai, Japan, 17-21 August 2004.

2004 IEEE International Symposium on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, 20-24 September 2004.

Held in Toulouse, France, 19-21 October 2004.

2005 IEEE International Symposium on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Seoul, Korea, 25-29 July 2005.

Mode B Sponsorship:

Commission F Symposium on Microwave Remote Sensing Atmospheric Remote Sensing Using Satellite Navigation Systems, URSI Joint Working Group FG, Matera, Italy 13-15 October 2003 (Conference report: RSB, December 2003, pp. 64-65). The four themes were atmospheric/ionospheric measurements using ground-based GNSS receivers, GNSS radio occultation and novel radio occultation techniques, scintillation – ionospheric and tropospheric effect, and imaging and data assimilation techniques. The young scientist session covered each of the four themes.

Fortaleza, Brazil, 17-19 November 2003 (Conference report: RSB, March 2004, pp. 59-62). The meeting extended the Climpara meetings linking URSI with ITU-R and addressed the use of climatic parameters in the prediction of radiowave propagation characteristics and diffraction modelling and its applications. The meeting preceded parallel meetings of ITU-R Working Parties 3J, 3K, 3L, and 3M. 60 participants attended the meeting and 35 contributed papers were presented.

8^th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing Applications, Rome, Italy, 24-27 February 2004. Topics included satellite missions and experimental campaigns, sensor calibration, advanced techniques, retrieval methodologies, and several applications (ocean, atmosphere, snow, soil and vegetation. 152 participants attended the meeting. 85 oral and 42 interactive presentations were given.

2004 Asia-Pacific Radio Science Conference, Qingdao, China, 25-27 August 2004. The meeting covered all scientific fields of URSI. A total of 17 keynote speeches, 6 invited presentations and over 200 contributed presentations were given.

Setting up a scientific program for a triennium is the prime activity of an URSI Commission in order to achieve an exchange of ideas and research results among individual scientists throughout the world. This is carried out at General Assemblies and other meetings.

Traditionally, Commission F oral sessions at GA have been organised based on invitation only. It was agreed at GA 2002 to open the oral sessions for contributed papers in order to have opportunities especially for Young Scientist Programme awardees to present their results. All Commission F sessions at GA 2005 consist of invited and contributed presentations and, additionally, related poster presentations. The following sessions are planned:

F01 - Satellite and terrestrial propagation

F02 - Propagation and scattering in vegetation

F03 - Mobile and personal access radio propagation

F04 - Mobile and indoor propagation

F05 - Scattering and diffraction effects in remote sensing

F06 - Global remote sensing

F07 - Urban remote sensing

F08 - Novel sensors and data fusion

F09 - Microwave remote sensing of the cryosphere

F10 - Remote sensing of atmosphere and ocean

FG - Transionospheric signal degradation

BCF - Propagation models and Maxwellian approach to smart antennas

GF1a, b - Atmosphere-ionosphere sounding by using global navigation satellite systems

The Commission F Tutorial is entitled "Spaceborne radar mapping of boreal forests".

The Commission F web site has been established in connection of the URSI web site (http://www.ursi.org/ComFWeb/index.html) for efficient dissemination of information.