Preface: The International Conference on Electronics, Engineering Physics and Earth Science (EEPES 2024) ^†

1. Introduction

The third edition of the International Conference on Electronics, Engineering Physics and Earth Science (EEPES 2024) was held in hybrid mode in Kavala, Greece, from 19 to 21 June 2024.

The EEPES Conference is the premier international gathering focusing on understanding the current state and evolution of the science through the lens of engineering physics, electronic devices and microelectronics, telecommunications, optical and electromagnetic communication, artificial intelligence and soft computing, environmental physics and renewable energy, and many other disciplines. It is a place where researchers, academics, industry representatives, students, and others can present and discuss their progress in research, development, standards, and applications related to applied and engineering physics.

The technical program of this year’s conference consisted of two distinguished keynotes by world-renowned experts delivering plenary lectures:

Prof. Dr. Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, delivered a lecture titled “More electric transportations: The key for sustainable growth”.

Prof. Dr. Prof. Dr. Rositsa Velichkova, Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria, delivered a lecture titled “Utilization of kinetic energy of water for energy supply”.

We prepared interesting plenary sessions not only from respected university professors and academic speakers on visionary topics but also from our sponsors Egnatia Aviation, Greece, and Sunlight Group Industrial Complex, Greece, who delivered distinguished technical presentations.

The technical program of the conference consisted of one plenary session, one technical session, and six in-person and eight online tracks for research papers. The authors of accepted papers who were unable to attend the conference in person were given the option to present their papers online and attend an interactive virtual conference. Online presentations were held in a virtual room environment via the Zoom Meeting platform for the opening ceremony and all conference sessions and meetings.

Finally, we are thankful to Egnatia Aviation, Greece, Sunlight Group Industrial Complex, Greece, the Municipality of Kavala, Greece, and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region, Greece, for becoming official sponsors of the EEPES Conference 2024 and to all our abovementioned partners for good cooperation and for the technical and financial support. Thanks to our institutional partners, University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev” and University of Telecommunications and Post, Sofia, both in Bulgaria, and Democritus University of Thrace, Kavala, Greece, as well as to the TPC members, conference chairs, and reviewers for their wonderful efforts in creating a successful and rigorous technical program. Without them, this event would have never happened.

2. Topics

• Telecommunication Systems;
• Applied and Engineering Physics;
• Renewable Energy and Green Technologies;
• Distributed Ledger Technologies and Blockchain;
• Electronics, Power Electronics, and EMC;
• Information Technologies and Artificial Intelligence;
• Energy Efficiency and Applied Thermodynamics;
• Optical and Electromagnetic Communication;
• Mechatronics and Industrial Automation;
• Automotive Engineering and E-vehicles;
• Biomedical Engineering;
• Project Dissemination.

3. Committee

3.1. Chairs

• General Chairs

Teodor ILIEV, University of Ruse (Bulgaria);

Ivaylo STOYANOV, University of Ruse (Bulgaria).

• Technical Program Chair

Panagiotis KOGIAS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece).

• Steering Committee Chair

Gani BALBAYEV, Academy of logistics and transport (Kazakhstan).

• Review Committee Chair

Bogdan POPA, University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania).

• Local Organizing Committee Chairs

Panagiotis KOGIAS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);

Jacob FANTIDIS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece).

3.2. Guest Editors

• Grigor MIHAYLOV, University of Telecommunications and Post (Bulgaria);
• Jacob FANTIDIS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece).

3.3. Steering Committee

• Gani BALBAYEV, Academy of logistics and transport (Kazakhstan);
• Goran DJORDJEVIC, University of Nis (Serbia);
• Selahattin KOSUNALP, Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University (Turkey);
• Irena POPOVIC, Krapina University of Applied Sciences (Croatia).

3.4. Organizing Committee

• Teodor ILIEV, University of Ruse (Bulgaria);
• Ivaylo STOYANOV, University of Ruse (Bulgaria);
• Panagiotis KOGIAS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Jacob FANTIDIS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Bogdan POPA, University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania);
• Grigor MIHAYLOV, University of Telecommunications and Post (Bulgaria);
• Gani BALBAYEV, Academy of logistics and transport (Kazakhstan);
• Goran DJORDJEVIC, University of Nis (Serbia);
• Selahattin KOSUNALP, Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University (Turkey).

3.5. Local Organizing Committee

• Konstantinos KARAKOULIDIS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Fotini KOGIA, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Michail MALAMATOUDIS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Zoi MANGOUSI, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Athanasia THOMOGLOU, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Anna THYSIADOU, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Dimitrios KAZOLIS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Konstantinos TRAMANTZAS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Eleni TOKOUSBALIDOU, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Vasiliki ZERVA, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Nikos ROUMELIOTIS, Deddie (Greece);
• Sofia VOULME, (Greece).

3.6. International Scientific Committee

• Felipe PENARANDA-FOIX, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (Spain);
• Selahattin KOSUNALP, Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University (Turkey);
• Panagiotis KOGIAS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Svilen RACHEV, Technical University of Gabrovo (Bulgaria);
• Bogdan POPA, University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania);
• Gani BALBAYEV, Academy of logistics and transport (Kazakhstan);
• Reneta DIMITROVA, Technical University of Sofia (Bulgaria);
• Goran DJORDJEVIC, University of Nis (Serbia);
• Stiliyan NIKOLOV, Technical University of Sofia (Bulgaria);
• Irena POPOVIC, Krapina University of Applied Sciences (Croatia);
• Stanimir SADINOV, Technical University of Gabrovo (Bulgaria);
• Dejan MILIC, University of Nis (Serbia);
• Veneta ALEKSIEVA, Technical University of Varna (Bulgaria);
• Eliza TICA, University Politehnica of Bucharest (Romania);
• Jacob FANTIDIS, Democritus University of Thrace (Greece);
• Hristo VALCHANOV, Technical University of Varna (Bulgaria);
• Renato FILJAR, Krapina University of Applied Sciences (Croatia);
• Angel TERZIEV, Technical University of Sofia (Bulgaria);
• Nenad SIKIRICA, Krapina University of Applied Sciences (Croatia);
• Alain AJAMI, Saint-Joseph University (Lebanon);
• Darko SPOLJAR, University of Rijeka (Croatia);
• Marko HORVAT, University of Zagreb (Croatia);
• Lorant SZOLGA, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania);
• Teodora HRISTOVA, University of Mining and Geology (Bulgaria);
• Danijela EFNUSHEVA, University "Ss. Cyril and Methodius" (Republic of North Macedonia).

4. Program

The details of the program can be found at https://eepes.eu/index.php/programme (accessed on 31 July 2024).

5. Statement on Peer Review

In submitting conference proceedings to Engineering Proceedings, the Volume Editors of the proceedings certify to the publisher that all papers published in this volume have been subjected to peer review administered by the Volume Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal.

• Type of peer review: single-blind;
• Conference submission management system: Microsoft CMT;
• Number of submissions sent for review: 102;
• Number of submissions accepted: 58;
• Acceptance rate (number of submissions accepted/number of submissions received): 56.9%;
• Average number of reviews per paper: 2;
• Total number of reviewers involved: 73;
• Any additional information on the review process: All manuscripts submitted to the EEPES 2024 Conference were subjected to single-blind peer review, which was carried out to meet the scientific criteria of novelty and academic excellence.

6. Review Criteria and Policy

The following key points related to the scientific content, quality, and presentation of the papers were considered by the Editors and referees in their evaluation:

• Originality/Novelty: Is the question original and well defined? Do the results provide an advance in current knowledge?
• Quality of Presentation: Is the paper written in an appropriate way?
• Scientific Soundness: Is the study correctly designed and technically sound?
• Interest to the Readers: Are the conclusions interesting for the readers? Will the paper attract a wide readership or only be of interest to a limited number of people?
• Presentation Criteria: Adequate title, the quality of diagrams, figures, tables, and captions, carefully written conclusion.
• Overall Merit: Is there an overall benefit to publishing this work? Does the work provide an advance from current knowledge? Have the authors addressed an important long-standing question with smart experiments?
• English Level: Is the English language appropriate and understandable?

The EEPES Conference implements a strict "No Show No Publication" policy, meaning that accepted papers that are not presented at the conference will not be published afterward in the conference proceedings.