Announcements
2 August 2024
Drones | Selected Editor’s Choice Articles in 2023
2 August 2024
MDPI Romania Author Training Sessions in May
In May, MDPI Romania held three author training sessions – one endorsing an external event and two stand-alone sessions.
The National Session of Scientific Student Communications took place at Technical University Cluj on 17 and 18 May 2024. MDPI Romania sponsored this event and contributed an author training session on the production of research papers and case study analyses. JRS Norbert Kiss gave a presentation called The World of Open Access to explain different open access publishing models and the benefits of open access publishing. His presentation highlighted the impact of open access publishing on scientific progress and innovation.
On 29 May 2024, MDPI Romania hosted an author training session for Ph.D. students, early career researchers, and professors at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy. In collaboration with Prof. Andreea Arsene, JRS Ioana Paunescu prepared two presentations: The Steps of the Publishing Process and Elaboration of a Peer Review Report. In her first presentation, she delved into MDPI’s history and mission, MDPI’s editorial process, and MDPI journals of various scopes that are accepting submissions. Her second presentation outlined the types of peer review, the contents of a peer review report by an MDPI reviewer, and the responsibilities of an MDPI reviewer.
MDPI Romania also hosted an author training session at the Iasi University of Life Sciences on 29 May 2024. JRSs Laurentiu Preda and Cosmin Artan gave four presentations: Efficient Writing of an ISI-Indexed Scientific Article, Benefits of Publishing in the Open Access Model, Various Methods of Open Access Publishing, and MDPI Guide for the Article Review Process. The first three presentations offered guidance on how to improve academic writing, the fourth focused on how to write peer review reports. A highly interactive discussion followed the presentations, during which the JRSs provided extensive answers to attendees’ questions.
MDPI is grateful for all the attendees, speakers, and organizers involved in these events. Through their enthusiasm and dedication, these events were great successes.
31 July 2024
Meet Us at the 36th EUROSENSORS Conference, 1–4 September 2024, Debrecen, Hungary
30 July 2024
Meet Us at the 1st International Conference on AI Sensors & the 10th International Symposium on Sensor Science, 1–4 August 2024, Singapore
19 July 2024
Interview with Dr. Rohan Chandra—Winner of Drones 2023 Young Investigator Award
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Dr. Rohan Chandra is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Texas Robotics, advised by Dr. Joydeep Biswas and Dr. Peter Stone, at the University of Texas, Austin, USA. His research focuses on algorithms and systems for enabling robots to navigate safely and efficiently among humans, like humans. Dr. Chandra obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in 2018 and 2022 from the University of Maryland, USA, advised by Dr. Dinesh Manocha, and completed his B.Tech at Delhi Technological University, New Delhi, India in 2016. His doctoral thesis focused on autonomous driving in dense, heterogeneous, and unstructured traffic environments. |
The following is an interview with Dr. Rohan Chandra:
1. Can you tell us a little about your background and what initially sparked your interest in your field of research?I completed my bachelor’s in India in 2016 in the field of electronics and communication. Following that, I went on to complete my graduate degrees in computer science from the University of Maryland and at UMD. My doctoral dissertation was focused on autonomous driving in challenging highly unstructured environments. I just recently completed a two-year postdoc at the University of Texas at Austin, and now I will be joining the University of Virginia as an assistant professor this fall in the Department of Computer Science. However, my initial interest was not always in robotics. I was always interested in math and problem solving. When I was in grad school, my advisor gave me a thesis topic to work on in the field of autonomous driving. Along the way, I just figured out how to combine my research interest with my passion for mathematical problem solving. This journey led me to make significant progress in the field of autonomous driving and robotics.
2. Did you face any challenges and, if so, what challenges did you face during your research and how did you overcome them?One of the challenges in my field, especially in robotics, is the availability of data, because you have to train machine learning models and neural networks based on data. And when I was working on my thesis, which as I mentioned, was on autonomous driving in very challenging traffic environments, some of the most challenging traffic environments were those found in Asian countries, like India, China, or Singapore. Most of the datasets that are available or that were available at the time were on easier traffic environments like those found in the Western parts of the world such as the US or Europe. So, this lack of data presented a huge problem because then you're not able to move forward in your research. To overcome this issue, I traveled to these regions to collect data myself. For example, I flew to Singapore to gather traffic data and collaborated with a company in India to collect data on Indian traffic. Just last year, we published the dataset that we collected in India at a conference. Another challenge in robotics is dealing with real physical systems. Unlike software, real robots can break down, making it difficult to keep them operational. During my graduate studies, I had no experience with physical robots, which is why I pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas. This experience allowed me to gain practical knowledge and hands-on experience with real robots, furthering my expertise in the field.
3. How do you believe open access contributes to the advancement of knowledge and accessibility within your field?I firmly believe in open access research. There was a recent discussion on social media among prominent scientists and engineers about what defines science and what drives scientific progress. A key point that emerged in that discussion was that science thrives when ideas can collide and challenge each other, which can only happen if those ideas are open and accessible. If you're doing the research behind closed doors, then those ideas are not allowed to be vetted in peer-reviewed venues and it's difficult for science to progress. It is essential for ideas to be vetted, questioned, and challenged repeatedly, which is a part of the definition of open science. In robotics, open research is particularly crucial. Access to code and hardware specifications from previous experiments is vital. Without open infrastructure, researchers risk constantly reinventing the wheel instead of building on prior work. Open access allows for rapid prototyping and progress by enabling researchers to build on existing experiments, which is especially important in the fast-evolving field of robotics.
4. When it comes to your goals, what are your short-term and long-term research goals?I will answer that question in reverse order, starting with my long-term goals. My long-term goal is to enable mobile robots to collaborate with and assist humans in homes, public spaces (e.g., airports, hospitals, etc.), and transportation. There are several objectives to complete towards achieving this goal. First, we need multiple robots to navigate complex human environments in a fully decentralized manner both safely and efficiently. Second, we need to build a new paradigm for human–robot interaction that can facilitate complex natural language communication between humans and robots. Third, we need to extend autonomous driving towards highly dense, heterogeneous, and unstructured traffic. I have several active projects that fulfill these objectives.
5. What research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?I’ve been thinking about that, and I believe that it's a great time to be in robotics right now, especially with recent advancements. But also, if you look at deep learning, in deep learning we had the ideas and algorithms all the way from the 1980–1990s. But it was only 12 years ago, in 2012, that the engineering and the infrastructure caught up with the GPUs and then the revolution came. In robotics right now, it’s the other way around, where we are making significant progress in terms of infrastructure, with more GPUs, more data, and more foundational models. However, we are still relying on outdated methodologies, ideologies, and algorithms. What’s needed in robotics now is an algorithmic shift in how we approach manipulation, locomotion, navigation, and human–robot interaction. In the next 5–10 years, alongside the industry's efforts to scale infrastructure, researchers need to develop new algorithmic paradigms in human–robot interaction, multi-robot systems, and robot learning to drive a revolution similar to what deep learning achieved.
6. Can you share any advice for young researchers who are just starting out in your field?One crucial aspect, especially in robotics, is maintaining strong foundational knowledge and fundamentals. While having AI skills is essential in fields like computer vision or natural language processing, where the focus is on images, text, or speech, robotics requires dealing with real physical systems. Operating these systems effectively demands a solid engineering and mathematical background in addition to AI expertise. To be a leader in robotics, it is important not to solely focus on AI skills but to also ensure a strong foundation in engineering principles. This approach will be invaluable in advancing your career and contributing to the field's progress.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Rohan Chandra on winning the Drones 2023 Young Investigator Award!
18 July 2024
Meet Us at the 2024 International Conference on Guidance, Navigation and Control, 9-11 August 2024, Changsha, China
16 July 2024
Meet Us at the 31st International Conference on Geoinformatics, 14–16 August 2024, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
10 July 2024
MDPI's Newly Launched Journals in June 2024
Five new journals covering multiple subjects have launched their inaugural issue in June 2024. We are excited to be able to share with you the newest research rooted in the value of open access.
We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all the Editorial Board Members and each journal will ensure its high-quality output using excellent editorial and rigorous peer review processes, to ensure that the articles achieve high impact and visibility.
Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below.
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Journal |
Founding Editor-in-Chief |
Journal Topics (Selected) |
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Prof. Dr. Marco Ranucci, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Italy |
anaesthetic medications; blood and fluid management; pain management; critical care; critical illness | view journal scope | submit an article |
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Dr. Giovanni E. Cacciamani, University of Southern California, USA |
surgical/procedural complications; complications; perioperative adverse events; postoperative adverse events | view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Gassan Hodaifa, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain |
laboratory management; laboratory safety; protective equipment; laboratory problems and challenges; laboratory Innovation | view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Jan S. Suchodolski, Texas A&M University, USA |
companion animals health and disease; veterinary care and nutrition; genetics and genomics; behavior and welfare; human-animal relations | view journal scope | submit an article |
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Prof. Dr. Pierfrancesco De Paola, University of Naples Federico II, Italy |
real estate appraisal; economic and financial valuation of real estate projects; sustainable real estate; housing and urban economics | view journal scope | submit an article |
We wish to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. You are welcome to send an application here, or contact the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com) if you would like to create more new journals.
24 June 2024
Welcoming New Associate Editors of Drones
We are pleased to announce that four active Editorial Board Members were promoted to Associate Editors for the Drones (ISSN: 2504-446X)!
Prof. Dr. Xiwang Dong (Beihang University, China);
Prof. Dr. Xiwang Dong received his Ph.D. in engineering from the Department of Automation at Tsinghua University, China, in 2014. From December 2014 to December 2015, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. From July 2014 to July 2021, he served as a Lecturer, Associate Professor, Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, and Assistant to the Dean of the School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering at Beihang University, China. From July 2021 to December 2023, he served as the deputy dean of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence at Beihang University. From January 2024 to date, he has served as the Dean of the Institute of Unmanned Systems at Beihang University.
Prof. Dr. Petros S. Bithas (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece)
Prof. Dr. Petros S. Bithas received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Patras, Greece, in 2003. From the same department, he received a Ph.D. degree with specialization in “Wireless Communication Systems” in 2009. Between 2004 and 2009, he was a research assistant at the Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing (ISARS) of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), Greece. At ISARS, he has participated in various Research and Development (R&D) projects, including the Advanced Telematic Systems for Vehicles funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology and the European Network of Excellence for Satellite Communications (SatNEx phase I and II) funded by the European Commission. Furthermore, from 2010 to 2013, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, Greece, where he was involved in EXALTED (EXpAnding LTE for Devices), an Integrating Project (IP) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Since October 2009, he has been affiliated with the Department of Εlectronics Engineering of the Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus as a Lab Instructor. He is currently a research associate at the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications, and Remote Sensing (IAASARS) of the NOA, Greece.
Prof. Dr. Andrey V. Savkin (University of New South Wales, Australia);
Prof. Dr. Andrey V. Savkin is the Head of Systems and control at the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales. He received an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Leningrad State University. His current research areas include the Deployment and Navigation of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Navigation and Control of Mobile Robots, State Estimation and Control in Wireless Communication Networks, Control of Battery Energy Storage Systems, Control of Wind Power Systems, Robust Control and Filtering, Application of Modern Control, and Signal Processing Techniques to Biomedical Engineering and Medicine.
Prof. Dr. Oleg Yakimenko (Naval Postgraduate School, USA).
Prof. Dr. Oleg Yakimenko is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Systems Engineering Department of NPS, USA. He also serves as the NPS Director of UAS Research Activities. His expertise includes modeling, guidance, navigation, and control of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, guided weapons, parachutes, and spacecraft. He is an author and co-author of over three hundred publications, including books and patents. He is an AIAA Fellow (based on a document published on 15 May 2023).
We wish them every success in further developing the journal.
Further details about the Editorial Board Members can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/drones/editors.
24 June 2024
Drones Receives an Updated Impact Factor of 4.4
