Emerging Technologies and Innovations in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Control Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Unmanned aerial systems are becoming a key factor in reducing the required time, risk, and cost related to a wide range of both military and civil applications. Enforced by the growing availability of miniaturized avionic systems, many efforts have been devoted to the development of novel design tools for optimal performance, efficient control laws, and accurate state estimation algorithms. By taking advantage of consolidated experience in both unmanned and conventional aviation, manufacturers and transport stakeholders are also investigating concepts of personal air transportation systems, where reliability, efficiency, and flexibility of guidance, navigation, and control laws is paramount.

This Special Issue aims to collect new developments and emerging technologies in the field of UAV control with reviews, regular research papers, communications, and short notes. We encourage submissions which provide the community with the most recent advancements in all aspects of guidance, navigation, and control, including but not limited to:

• Modeling, simulation, and dynamic analysis of new and unconventional configurations;
• Design of new sensors and novel estimation and data fusion algorithms;
• Development and application of nano technologies;
• Challenges of urban air mobility and delivery applications;
• Space–air–ground integrated networks for complex transportation scenarios;
• Vehicle design for optimal performance and minimum carbon footprint;
• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and onboard computing;
• Transition from manned to unmanned vehicle configurations;
• Swarming and collaborative tasks.

Dr. Emanuele Luigi de Angelis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Drones is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.