Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.5
2.5
Journals
Applied Sciences
Special Issues
The Routing, Object Tracking, and Multiple Coordination of Unmanned Aerial...
applsci-logo
Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Applied Sciences Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

The Routing, Object Tracking, and Multiple Coordination of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Robotics and Automation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2026 | Viewed by 1095

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Milena Faria Pinto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Federal Center for Technological Education Celso Suckow da Fonseca (Cefet/RJ), Rio de Janeiro 20271-110, Brazil
Interests: artificial intelligence; embedded electronics; robotic systems; unmanned aerial vehicles; data processing; fog-cloud computing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used in various applications, including surveillance, disaster response, environmental monitoring, and logistics, and as UAV technology advances, optimizing operations in dynamic and complex environments becomes increasingly essential. This Special Issue focuses on cutting-edge research in UAV routing, object tracking, and multi-agent coordination, addressing challenges such as path optimization, real-time tracking, swarm intelligence, and cooperative decision-making. We welcome contributions to algorithmic innovations, artificial intelligence-based approaches, and practical implementations that enhance UAV efficiency, autonomy, and reliability. The Special Issue aims to bridge theoretical advancements with real-world applications, assisting interdisciplinary collaboration and technological progress in UAV systems.

Prof. Dr. Milena Faria Pinto
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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • UAV routing optimization
  • object tracking with UAVs
  • multi-UAV coordination
  • swarm intelligence
  • AI-based UAV control
  • path planning algorithms
  • cooperative decision-making
  • autonomous UAV navigation

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 (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

30 pages, 16905 KB  
Article
Real-Time 2D Orthomosaic Mapping from UAV Video via Feature-Based Image Registration
by Se-Yun Hwang, Seunghoon Oh, Jae-Chul Lee, Soon-Sub Lee and Changsoo Ha
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(4), 2133; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16042133 - 22 Feb 2026
Viewed by 739
Abstract
This study presents a real-time framework for generating two-dimensional (2D) orthomosaic maps directly from UAV video. The method targets operational scenarios in which a continuously updated 2D overview is required during flight or immediately after landing, without relying on time-consuming offline photogrammetry workflows [...] Read more.
This study presents a real-time framework for generating two-dimensional (2D) orthomosaic maps directly from UAV video. The method targets operational scenarios in which a continuously updated 2D overview is required during flight or immediately after landing, without relying on time-consuming offline photogrammetry workflows such as structure-from-motion (SfM) and multi-view stereo (MVS). The proposed procedure incrementally registers sparsely sampled video frames on standard CPU hardware using classical feature-based image registration. Each selected frame is converted to grayscale and processed under a fixed keypoint budget to maintain predictable runtime. Tentative correspondences are obtained through descriptor matching with ratio-test filtering, and outliers are removed using random sample consensus (RANSAC) to ensure geometric consistency. Inter-frame motion is modeled by a planar homography, enabling the mapping process to jointly account for rotation, scale variation, skew, and translation that commonly occur in UAV video due to yaw maneuvers, mild altitude variation, and platform motion. Sequential homographies are accumulated to warp incoming frames into a global mosaic canvas, which is updated incrementally using lightweight blending suitable for real-time visualization. Experimental results on three UAV video sequences with different durations, flight patterns, and scene targets report representative orthomosaic-style outputs and per-step CPU runtime statistics (mean, 95th percentile, and maximum), illustrating typical operating behavior under the tested settings. The framework produces visually coherent orthomosaic-style maps in real time for approximately planar scenes with sufficient overlap and texture, while clarifying practical failure modes under weak texture, motion blur, and strong parallax. Limitations include potential drift over long sequences and the absence of ground-truth references for absolute registration-error evaluation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Routing, Object Tracking, and Multiple Coordination of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs))
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-1
Back to TopTop