Data-Driven Fields: AI and Unmanned Sensing Technologies in Agricultural Optimization

A special issue of AgriEngineering (ISSN 2624-7402). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer Applications and Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 August 2026 | Viewed by 69

Special Issue Editors

Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
Interests: remote sensing; machine learning; precision agriculture; UAV; high-throughput phenotyping; hyperspectral imaging
School of Mechanical Engineering, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China
Interests: remote sensing; robot in-situ/IoT; crop phenotyping; agricultural sensor integration
Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Interests: remote sensing; data fusion; precision agriculture; digital agriculture; carbon-water-crop nexus; global change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue invites cutting-edge research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and sensor technology to accelerate the transition to digital, precise, and intelligent agriculture. High-resolution remote sensing, combined with deep learning and emerging foundation/generative models, is reshaping how we scout fields, diagnose crop stress, guide variable-rate inputs, and forecast yield. We particularly welcome studies that reduce data-acquisition costs through synthetic data and domain adaptation, fuse multi-modal sources (satellite, UAV, robot in-situ/IoT, agronomic text), and operationalize real-time decision support for irrigation, fertilization, and pest/disease management. Contributions that integrate physical knowledge with data-driven models, e.g., digital twins of fields and greenhouse, are encouraged.

This Special Issue focuses on, but is not limited to, agricultural engineering in the following areas:

  • Multi-modal data fusion;
  • Intelligent monitoring and field robotics;
  • Crop disease and pest detection using deep learning and generated data;
  • Sensors and detection technologies for precision agriculture;
  • Muti-scale remote sensing and artificial intelligence in agriculture;
  • Intelligent crop monitoring and management systems;
  • Combination of physical knowledge with data-driven models in the agricultural digital twin systems;
  • Real-time decision-making systems for digital agriculture.

Dr. Lang Qiao
Dr. Dehua Gao
Dr. Jiang Chen
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. AgriEngineering 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 1600 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.

Keywords

  • digital agriculture
  • crop phenotyping
  • computer vision in agriculture
  • drone
  • sustainable agriculture
  • sensors
  • pests and diseases
  • AI-generated content
  • agricultural optimization

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
Back to TopTop