Ilaria Nasso

Ilaria Nasso was born in San Benedetto del Tronto (AP), Italy, in 1995.

She received her Master's degree (Cum laude) in Space and Astronautical Engineering and completed her Ph.D. in remote sensing at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, in July 2020 and January 2024, respectively. Between April and September 2023, she conducted research at the Microwave Integrated Systems Laboratory of the University of Birmingham, UK. Currently, she holds the position of a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Information Engineering, Electronics, and Telecommunications at Sapienza University of Rome.

Research Activity

Her main research interests focus on radar systems and signal processing, with specific regard to multistatic radar systems and techniques. Main research topics include:

• Multistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR)/ISAR systems and techniques 

• Target kinematic state estimation with multistatic radar systems

• Satellite-based passive multistatic radar systems

Research Projects

• 2024-present - "EO4SECURITY - Innovative SAR processing methodologies for security applications - Topic B2: SAR micro-Doppler processing - Extension", project funded by the European Space Agency.

• 2024-2025 - "Exploitation of VHR spaceborne SAR images for in-land waterways surveillance", Sapienza Research calls 2024.

• 2023-2025- "EO4SECURITY, Innovative SAR processing methodologies for security applications - Topic B2: microDoppler", project funded by the European Space Agency.

• 2023-2025- "EO4SECURITY, Innovative SAR processing methodologies for security applications - Topic B1: ISAR", project funded by the European Space Agency.

• 2022-2023 - "Ship target imaging with active and passive multistatic radar system via ISAR approaches", Sapienza Research calls 2022.

• 2021-2022 - "Target motion estimation with active and passive multistatic radar system: advanced processing techniques", Sapienza Research calls 2021.

Publications

International Journals

• F. Santi, I. Nasso, M. Antoniou, D. Pastina, "Passive multistatic ISAR imaging of ship targets with GNSS signals of opportunity," IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, in press.

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, A. Bekar, C. Gilliam,  M. Antoniou, "Target height estimation and shape reconstruction in multiple high-resolution drone-borne SAR images through shadows extraction," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 63, pp. 1-14, 2025.

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, "Maritime moving target detection and localisation technique for Global Navigation Satellite Signals‐based passive multistatic radar," IET Radar Sonar Navigation, 1–14 (2023).

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, "A Centralized Ship Localization Strategy for Passive Multistatic Radar Based on Navigation Satellites," IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 19, pp. 1-5, 2022, Art no. 4026805.

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, "Maritime targets velocity estimation in space-based passive multistatic radar using long integration times", IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 163764 - 163779, Dec. 2021.

Conference Proceedings

• V. Gentile, I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, "Micro-Doppler features extraction from rotating marine radar antennas on ships in VHR SAR images," International Radar Symposium, Hamburg, Germany, 21-23 May 2025.

• F. Santi, I. Nasso, "Wind turbines focusing with spaceborne SAR via multi-frame ISAR imaging ," International Radar Conference, Atlanta, Georgia (USA), 5-9 May 2025.

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, "Hybrid SAR/ISAR ship target imaging using very long dwell spaceborne SAR: preliminary results," International Radar Conference, Atlanta, Georgia (USA), 5-9 May 2025.

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, "Hybrid SAR/ISAR imaging with VHR spaceborne data for inland waterways surveillance," International Radar Conference, Rennes, France, 21-25 Oct. 2024.

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, A. Bekar, M. Antoniou, C. Gilliam, "Exploitation of man-made objects shadows in multi-perspective drone-borne based SAR images: preliminary experimental results," International Radar Conference, Rennes, France, 21-25 Oct. 2024.

• M. Zavagli, I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, F. Vecchioli, F: Minati, M. Costantini, L. P. Garcia, C. Clemente, M. Corvino, “Advanced ISAR processing applied to VHR SAR data for security applications,” IEEE IGARSS 2024, Athens, Greece, 7-12 Jul. 2024. 

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, A. Bekar, M. Antoniou and C. Gilliam, "Target shape reconstruction from multi-perspective shadows in drone-borne SAR systems," 2024 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf24), Denver, CO, USA, 2024.

• I. Nasso, F. Santi, "A centralized approach for ship target detection and localization with multi-transmitters GNSS-based passive radar," IET International Conf. Radar Syst., Edinburgh, UK, 24-27 Oct. 2022.

• I. Nasso, F. Santi and D. Pastina, "Ship target velocity estimation with multi-transmitter GNSS-based passive radar exploiting long integration times," 2021 21st International Radar Symposium (IRS), 2021.

Awards

• Recipient of the IEEE Michael Wicks Travel Award for the paper entitled “Target Shape Reconstruction from multi-Perspective Shadows in drone-Borne SAR Systems” at the 2024 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf24), Denver, CO, USA.

• Author of the Second Place Award in the Best Student Paper Competition at the 2024 IEEE Radar Conference (Denver, Colorado, USA, 2024): Target shape reconstruction from multi-perspective shadows in drone-borne SAR systems, by I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina, A. Bekar, M. Antoniou, C. Gilliam.

• Author of the Best Student Paper awarded at the 2022 IET Radar Conference (Edinburgh, UK, Oct. 2022): A centralized approach for ship target detection and localization with multi-transmitters GNSS-based passive radar, by I. Nasso, F. Santi

• Author of the Best Student Paper awarded at the 2021 International Radar Symposium (June 2021):  Ship target velocity estimation with multi-transmitter GNSS-based passive radar exploiting long integration times, by I. Nasso, F. Santi, D. Pastina.