On behalf of all the organizing committee, we would like to warmly welcome you to the 19th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO’11), the flagship conference of the European Signal Processing (EURASIP) Society.

Summertime is EUSIPCO time and this year we are really proud to host EUSIPCO again in Barcelona (the first time was 11 years ago, in 1990). Organizing EUSIPCO twice is a privilege that we share with the city of Lausanne. This fact strengthens the links of both cities with the history of signal processing in Europe. It is often said that returning to places where one had a really nice time should be avoided. However, we take the risk, since we are convinced that this time you will (almost surely) enjoy both the conference and the city even more.

In 1990, there was a substantial increase in the number of PhD students attending EUSIPCO. This year many of them come back again and, fortunately for them and for the reputation of signal processing, they have become outstanding researchers either in the academic or in the industrial arena. No doubt, our biggest success would be achieved if, in the years to come, at least two generations of participants could meet in our favourite conference… in Lausanne, Barcelona or elsewhere!

In the early times of EUSIPCO, signal processing was an emerging research area mostly targeting post-graduate work. This is not the case anymore. Nowadays, signal processing has become the cornerstone of many other engineering disciplines, such as communications or power engineering. EUSIPCO is a living example that signal processing is (and will continue to be) a research field in rapid evolution and growth.

Since EUSIPCO’90, EURASIP has successfully introduced many changes in this conference. Currently, the conference offers a number of tutorials (which, as in previous years, are included in the registration fee), special sessions, as well as social and cultural events. Besides, four EURASIP members, all of them being truly exceptional people, will be elevated to the category of EURASIP Fellow. Another major event, the annual awards ceremony, will be held at the conference banquet, featuring the Technical Achievement, Group Technical Achievement, Meritorious Service and the Athanasios Papoulis awards.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the organizing committee and our colleagues on the Conference Board of EURASIP for their support and effort. The technical program of EUSIPCO’11 has been coordinated by Dr. Xavier Mestre from the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC); and Dr. Javier Hernando and Dr. Montserrat Pardas, both from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). Our special thanks also go to the local committee, all the area chairs and the team of reviewers.

We sincerely hope that you will have an enjoyable stay in Barcelona, and that you will find EUSIPCO’11 an interesting and inspiring conference.

Ana Pérez-Neira, Miguel Ángel Lagunas, Carles Antón-Haro.