Drones

Drones and Machine Learning as a Complementary Tools in Wildlife Biology Studies

edited by

Cino Pertoldi

and

Sussie Pagh

submission deadline 20 Sep 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 23393 | Submission Open

Keywords: drones; machine learning; Yolo; DeepLabCut; IR Camera; artificial intelligence; behavioural studies

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Recent Advances in Healthcare Applications of Drones

edited by

Yu-Jun Zheng

,

Mumtaz Karatas

and

Kaizhou Gao

submission deadline 24 Sep 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 5989 | Submission Open

Keywords: drones in healthcare; unmanned medical logistics; emergency medical services; telemedicine

Detection, Identification and Tracking of UAVs and Drones: 2nd Edition

edited by Richard Han, VP Nguyen, Karthik Dantu and

Endrowednes Kuantama

submission deadline 25 Sep 2026 | 8 articles | Viewed by 6615 | Submission Open

Keywords: detection; tracking; identification; sensor fusion; artificial intelligence; machine learning; localization

Cross-Modal Autonomous Cooperation for Intelligent Unmanned Systems

edited by Xingling Shao, Ben Niu, Feisheng Yang, Ziquan Yu and

Qiang Zhang

submission deadline 27 Sep 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3078 | Submission Open

Keywords: cross-modal perception; heterogeneous unmanned swarm; dynamic obstacle avoidance; human–robot collaboration; intelligent unmanned systems; autonomous navigation; energy management; security and privacy

Drones in Hydrological Research and Management

edited by

Dalia Calneryte

,

Robert Szczepanek

and

Jarosław Chormański

submission deadline 30 Sep 2026 | 5 articles | Viewed by 14163 | Submission Open

Keywords: hydrological research; disaster management; image analysis; machine learning; sustainable development; water quality

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Unmanned Aerial Systems for Geophysical Mapping and Monitoring

edited by

,

,

and

submission deadline 30 Sep 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 6759 | Submission Open

Keywords: earth science; geophysics; magnetics; electromagnetic; gravity; GPR; hyperspectral; radiometrics; data processing; miniaturized sensors; sensor integration; UAS payload optimization; subsurface mapping

Intelligent Control and Optimization of Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

edited by Zongyang Lv, Qing Zhao and Hao Wei

submission deadline 30 Sep 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 5919 | Submission Open

Keywords: eVTOL; UAV; optimal control; intelligent control; nonlinear control; fault-tolerant control

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Air–Ground Integrated Perception and Cooperative Control for UAVs and UGVs

edited by

Shunchao Wang

, Meng Li, Shuo Cheng, Qi Cao, Rui Shang and

Qi Liu

submission deadline 30 Sep 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 4062 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles; unmanned ground vehicles; air–ground integrated perception ; UAV–UGV cooperative systems; multi-agent collaborative control; AI-driven unmanned systems; autonomous transportation systems; multimodal perception and fusion

(This special issue belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID))

Intelligent Cooperative Control and Application of Unmanned Surface/Underwater Vehicles

edited by Lu Liu,

Guoqing Zhang

, Maohan Liang and Yifan Xue

submission deadline 30 Sep 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1401 | Submission Open

Keywords: cooperative control; artificial intelligence; mission plan; distributed system; game optimization; formation control; collision avoidance; system identification; underwater navigation; visual servo control

(This special issue belongs to the Section Unmanned Surface and Underwater Drones)

Embodied Control Theory and Engineering for Autonomous Unmanned Systems

edited by

Guangtao Ran

,

Xiaodong Shao

, Yizhuo Sun,

Yanning Guo

and Chuanjiang Li

submission deadline 30 Sep 2026 | Viewed by 483 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned systems; large language models; intelligent control; state estimation; multi-agent systems; trajectory planning

(This special issue belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID))

Advances in Internet of Drones: Applications, Communication Infrastructures, Architectures, and Protocols for FANETs

edited by

Wilfried Yves Hamilton Adoni

,

Richard Gloaguen

and Qi Lu

submission deadline 10 Oct 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 7264 | Submission Open

Keywords: Internet of Drones; FANET; architecture; aerial wireless networks; drone communication; swarm communication

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Task-Oriented UAV Applications in Agro-Forestry and Livestock Systems

edited by

Daniele Sarri

,

Gabriel Araújo e Silva Ferraz

,

Andrea Pagliai

and

Pengchao Chen

submission deadline 16 Oct 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1804 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aircraft systems (UASS); crop protection; UAV applications in agro-forestry; task-oriented UAV systems for agriculture; mission-driven drone design; agricultural aerial operations; UAV field validation in agricultural systems; autonomous aerial platforms for agriculture; precision aerial intervention; UAV payload integration; drone-based livestock management; UAV logistics and routing optimization in agriculture; agro-forestry and agro-energy applications

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

Advances in AI Large Models for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

edited by

Jie Zeng

,

Tiejun Lv

and

Xin Su

submission deadline 20 Oct 2026 | 6 articles | Viewed by 12756 | Submission Open

Keywords: AI large models; UAV network; navigation; sensor fusion; UAV swarm; cooperative sensing

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Next-Gen Drone Safety: Intelligent Systems, LLM Analytics and Operational Risk

edited by

Boyang Li

,

Gabriel Lodewijks

and

Kang Liu

submission deadline 20 Oct 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 7007 | Submission Open

Keywords: artificial intelligence in aviation; aviation accident investigation; aviation safety; intelligent systems; large language models (LLMs); UAS accidents; unmanned aircraft systems

Advances in UAV Guidance, Navigation, and Control Through Acoustic Technologies

edited by

Evan Kawamura

and Dilmurat M. Azimov

submission deadline 22 Oct 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3301 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV acoustics; drone noise; acoustic sensing; sound propagation; noise mitigation; acoustic navigation passive localization; beamforming; environmental noise impact; multimodal state estimation

Cooperative Perception, Planning, and Control of Heterogeneous UAVs

edited by Yuan Yuan, Qian Zhang and

Huanhuan Yuan

submission deadline 22 Oct 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 2653 | Submission Open

Keywords: model-heterogeneous UAVs; function-heterogeneous UAVs; cooperative control; cooperative planning; cooperative perception; multi-source data Fusion; distributed control system; formation control; synergy robustness; motion constraint matching

(This special issue belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID))

Advances in Deep Learning for Drones and Its Applications: 3rd Edition

edited by

Inkyu Sa

,

Marija Popovic

, Ho Seok Ahn and Chanoh Park

submission deadline 26 Oct 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 4057 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs; aerial robots; drones; remote sensing; deep learning; deep neural networks; computer vision; robotic perception

Drones in Pest Management and Plant Disease Detecting: State of the Art, Achievements and Perspectives

edited by Zoran Stamenković, Aleksandar Ivezić and

Antonio Scarfone

submission deadline 28 Oct 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 6894 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle; pest management; plant disease detection; precision agriculture; remote sensing; multispectral imaging; hyperspectral data; machine learning; crop monitoring; smart spraying

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

Electric-Powered and Hybrid-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology and Applications of Low-Altitude Aviation: 2nd Edition

edited by Wenbiao Gan, Zhou Zhou,

Saddam Aziz

and

Ilias Panagiotopoulos

submission deadline 28 Oct 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 978 | Submission Open

Keywords: electric-powered aircraft; distributed power; UAV; flying cars; optimization design; aerodynamics; artificial intelligence; green aviation; urban air mobility and delivery; low-altitude economy

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

Artificial Intelligence-Driven Drones Systems for Marine Engineering Applications

edited by

Bo Li

, Jia Ren,

Kaifang Wan

and Yani Cui

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | 7 articles | Viewed by 8591 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone applications; deep learning and reinforcement learning; marine engineering; vision-based perception; multimodal perception; environmental monitoring; autonomous navigation; air–sea coordination

Autonomy Challenges in Unmanned Aviation

edited by

Kimon P. Valavanis

and Anthony Tzes

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 5265 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aviation; autonomy; learning-based navigation and control; UAS design for robustness and resilience; NextGen UAS

Low-Latency Communication for Real-Time UAV Applications

edited by Angelos Stavrou, Tolga O. Atalay and Alireza Famili

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 4528 | Submission Open

Keywords: low-latency communication; real-time UAV applications; 5G/6G networks; ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC); edge computing for drones; UAV swarm communication; next-generation wireless systems; mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) for UAVs; autonomous drone networks; latency-aware protocols

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Design and Flight Control of Low-Speed Near-Space Unmanned Systems: 2nd Edition

edited by Ming Zhu, Xixiang Yang and Tian Chen

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1381 | Submission Open

Keywords: near-space; high-altitude platform station; solar-powered unmanned systems; overall design of aircraft; flight control; solar energy cycle system; ultra-light construction; near-space low-speed unmanned aircraft.

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Use of Drones in Protected Areas, Indigenous Lands, and National Parks

edited by Hamish A. Campbell,

Rebecca Rogers

and Naomi Millner

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | Viewed by 381 | Submission Open

Keywords: protected areas; Indigenous co-design; wildlife monitoring; habitat mapping; fire management; disaster response; wetland monitoring; adaptive management

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

UAVs and GeoAI for Natural Hazard Monitoring and Modeling

edited by

Vasil Yordanov

,

Aggeliki Kyriou

and

Polychronis Kolokoussis

submission deadline 16 Nov 2026 | Viewed by 513 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs; geoAI; natural hazards; remote sensing; hazard monitoring and mapping; geospatial data analytics

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Enhanced Emergency Response: 2nd Edition

edited by

Neng Ye

,

Jianxiong Pan

, Wonjae Shin,

Jianguo Li

and Xiangming Li

submission deadline 20 Nov 2026 | Viewed by 300 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs; emergency response; situational awareness; autonomous navigation; edge computing; multi-UAV cooperation; space–air–ground-integrated network; secure information exchange

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advancing UAV-Based Remote Sensing: Innovations, Techniques and Applications

edited by

Rui Li

, Yinxia Cao, Haoyang Yang and Dongyu Li

submission deadline 28 Nov 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 3751 | Submission Open |

Keywords: UAV remote sensing; drone path planning; image enhancement; multispectral and hyperspectral imaging; thermal remote sensing; precision mapping; data fusion techniques; environmental monitoring; disaster response applications; machine learning in UAV data analysis

UAV Swarm Intelligent Control and Decision-Making

edited by

Youmin Zhang

,

Haibin Duan

and Bin Li

submission deadline 30 Nov 2026 | 12 articles | Viewed by 10994 | Submission Open

Keywords: intelligent decision-making; intelligent control; UAV swarms

(This special issue belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID))

Advanced Cross-Domain Unmanned Platform Command and Security Technology: 2nd Edition

edited by

,

,

and

submission deadline 30 Nov 2026 | 4 articles | Viewed by 2898 | Submission Open

Keywords: intelligent control ; cross-domain ; command ; cooperation technologies ; security ; heterogeneous UAV swarms ; unmanned platforms

Advanced Optimization Strategies for UAV Mission Planning and Operation

edited by

Emanuele Luigi de Angelis

,

Fabrizio Giulietti

and Giulio Avanzini

submission deadline 1 Dec 2026 | 13 articles | Viewed by 11502 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); autonomous aerial systems; mission planning and scheduling; trajectory optimization; payload allocation and optimization; multi-UAV coordination; optimization algorithms; heuristic and metaheuristic methods; energy-efficient UAV operations; autonomous decision-making

(This special issue belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID))

Optimizing MIMO Systems for UAV Communication Networks

edited by Zheng Chu, De Mi and Berna Bulut Cebecioglu

submission deadline 1 Dec 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 2059 | Submission Open

Keywords: MIMO systems; UAV communications networks; low-altitude economy; air-ground integrated communications; optimization; B5G/6G integration

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

IoT-Enabled UAV Networks for Secure Communication

edited by Bing Chen,

Changyan Yi

,

Kun Zhu

, Yutao Jiao and Zhiyi Tian

submission deadline 15 Dec 2026 | 6 articles | Viewed by 12889 | Submission Open

Keywords: Internet of Things (IoT); unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); flying ad hoc networks (FANET); drones; ground control station (GCS)

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Drones and AI for Crop Information Sensing and Decision-Making Models

edited by

Fei Liu

, Wenwen Kong and

Xiangyu Lu

submission deadline 15 Dec 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 2170 | Submission Open

Keywords: smart agriculture; remote sensing; UAV; drones; AI models; deep learning; plant phenotype; crop water content; crop nutrient; crop disease; crop pest; crop yield; weed detection; 3D digital technology; multi-spectral imaging sensors; crop smart management system; crop decision-making models

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

Collaborative UAV SLAM: Methods and Applications

edited by

Paweł Trybała

,

Micael Santos Couceiro

and

Andrea Masiero

submission deadline 15 Dec 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 850 | Submission Open

Keywords: collaborative UAV SLAM; distributed SLAM; decentralised SLAM; communication-constrained SLAM; lifelong aerial SLAM; edge computing; swarm robotics; multi-modal sensor fusion; SLAM benchmarking; field robotics applications

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Applications in Critical Industrial Sectors (2nd Edition)

edited by

Dayi Zhang

, Gordon Dobie and

Jesus Enrique Sierra-Garcia

submission deadline 28 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 283 | Submission Open

Keywords: advanced unmanned aerial vehicles; unmanned aerial vehicles in industrial sectors; autonomous UAV systems; UAV-based critical infrastructure monitoring; hazardous environment inspection using UAVs; UAV technology advancements; infrastructure maintenance using UAVs; UAV environmental impact assessment

The Role of UAVs in Modern Agriculture: Precision Spraying and Crop Health Analysis

edited by

Jerzy Chojnacki

,

Simone Pascuzzi

and

Marcin Siłuch

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | 6 articles | Viewed by 9205 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone crop monitoring; field mapping; vegetation indexes; imaging and sensor technologies; artificial intelligence; aerial spraying; remote agriculture; digital simulations

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

When Deep Learning Meets Geometry for Air-to-Ground Perception on Drones: 2nd Edition

edited by

Dongdong Li

, Yangliu Kuai, Hongqi Fan and Gongjian Wen

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 8198 | Submission Open

Keywords: object detection ; object tracking ; object localization ; object segmentation ; vision foundation models ; multimodal data processing

Advancing Space-Air-Ground-Sea Integrated Networks in Drones: Techniques, Applications, and Future Directions

edited by

Dawei Wang

,

Hongbo Zhao

and Li Li

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | 3 articles | Viewed by 8156 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone-enabled SAGSINs; 6G networks; integrated space-air-ground-sea communications; cooperative transmission; cross-domain resource scheduling; mobility management; edge computing in drone networks; security and privacy in drone-enabled networks

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) Communication Strategies for UAV Networks

edited by Khadija Slimani, Adarsh Kumar and

Hamed Taherdoost

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 833 | Submission Open

Keywords: Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) communication; AI-enhanced UAV networks; secure and resilient communication; multi-UAV collaboration; blockchain-based trust management; autonomous decision-making; channel prediction and routing; cybersecurity in UAV Networks; digital twin modeling; next-generation wireless systems

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Mission Planning, Perception and Control for Drones in Wide-Area Operations: 2nd Edition

edited by

Weiran Yao

, Xiangyu Shao, Yuehua Liu, Liming Xin and Jiatao Ding

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | 1 articles | Viewed by 663 | Submission Open

Keywords: motion control and path planning for wide-area operating drones; mission planning for wide-area operating drones; task decomposition and allocation for wide-area operating drones; simultaneous localization and mapping in a complex environment; vision recognition and detection; intelligent perception techniques; model-based predictive control for intelligent systems; robust control, sliding mode control, and adaptive control; deep learning and reinforcement learning; architecture for learning and control integration; advanced decision and control methods for unmanned systems; intelligent swarm and formation

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Aerodynamics and Aeroacoustics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Flow Physics, Noise Prediction, and Design Optimization

edited by Marcel Ilie, Gabriela Liliana Stroe and Augustin Semenescu

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 166 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV aerodynamics; aeroacoustics; computational fluid dynamics (CFD); computational aeroacoustics (CAA); rotor wake interaction; low-noise UAV design

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Electromagnetic Signature Engineering, Sensing, and Secure Operation of UAVs and Drone Swarms

edited by

Vjaceslavs Bobrovs

,

Dmytro Vovchuk

and

Anna Mikhailovskaya

submission deadline 20 Jan 2027 | Viewed by 206 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV electromagnetics; radar cross section (RCS); micro-Doppler signature; metasurfaces and superscatterers; EM-aware navigation; UAV communication security; electromagnetic sensing; drone swarm coordination

Skybound Surveillance: Enhancing Road Network Efficiency with Drone Inspections

edited by

Anastasios Dimou

,

Omar Alharasees

,

Haitham A. Al Hasanat

and

Mohammad Saleh Fawaier

submission deadline 30 Jan 2027 | 2 articles | Viewed by 5122 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); road infrastructure and bridge inspection; transportation and traffic engineering; human factors and operator performance; aviation systems and UAV safety; sustainable and renewable-energy UAV applications

Advanced Flight Dynamics and Decision-Making for UAV Operations

edited by

Paraskevi Zacharia

,

Antreas Kantaros

, Elias K. Xidias and

Antoni Grau

submission deadline 31 Jan 2027 | 6 articles | Viewed by 17636 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV flight dynamics; autonomous control; decision-making; machine learning; reinforcement learning; neural networks; UAV simulation; swarm UAVs; 3D Printing; UAV design; additive manufacturing

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

UAVs and UGVs Robotics for Emergency Response in a Changing Climate

edited by

Abraham Mejia-Aguilar

, Santos Miguel Orozco Soto and Christian Wankmüller

submission deadline 31 Jan 2027 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3988 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs); robotics for hazardous environments; disaster robotics; human-robot teaming; search and rescue (SAR); emergency response automation; autonomous navigation; real-time situational awareness

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

UAV Path Planning Algorithms for Surveillance and Reconnaissance in Civil Applications

edited by

Octavio Garcia-Salazar

,

Anand Sanchez-Orta

and

Aldo Jonathan Muñoz-Vazquez

submission deadline 31 Jan 2027 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3118 | Submission Open

Keywords: path planning algorithms; civil surveillance; reconnaissance missions; autonomous navigation; obstacle avoidance; multi-UAV systems; machine learning for navigation; deep reinforcement learning; real-time trajectory optimization; cooperative motion planning; sensor fusion; urban monitoring; disaster response; infrastructure inspection; rotary-wing, fixed-wing and convertible UAVs; ethics and regulation in UAV operations

Urban Airspace Coordination and Management for Scalable Drone Operations

edited by Honghai Zhang,

Xinglong Wang

, Mingzhuang Hua and Bingjie Liang

submission deadline 31 Jan 2027 | 2 articles | Viewed by 876 | Submission Open

Keywords: Urban Air Mobility (UAM); Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM); Low-Altitude Economy; Smart Cities; Scalable Drone Operations; Airspace Coordination and Management; Digital Airspace Systems

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

Intelligent Cooperative Technologies of UAV Swarm Systems

edited by

Mou Chen

,

Xiwang Dong

and

Fei Gao

submission deadline 15 Feb 2027 | 6 articles | Viewed by 6918 | Submission Open

Keywords: AI-enabled drones; intelligent perception and cognition; autonomous navigation and cooperative localization; AI-enabled decision-making and planning; countermeasures and confrontation; learning-based control and optimization; game-theoretical analysis; security and resilience

(This special issue belongs to the Section Artificial Intelligence in Drones (AID))

The Conceptual Design Methodology for UAV: New Research and New Development (2nd Edition)

edited by

Jie Li

, Jinli Suo, Meng Guo, Min Chang, Zhaowei Ma and

Changyun Wei

submission deadline 16 Feb 2027 | 6 articles | Viewed by 8663 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); hybrid aquatic aerial vehicle (HAAV); smart materials and aircraft structures design for drones; new energy and power systems for drones; GPS-denied autonomous localization of UAVs; robust and fast maneuver control for drones; emergent behaviors in swarm; large language model for swarm interaction

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Path Planning, Trajectory Tracking and Guidance for UAVs: 4th Edition

edited by

,

,

,

and

submission deadline 18 Feb 2027 | 3 articles | Viewed by 1319 | Submission Open

Keywords: path planning; trajectory tracking; guidance, navigation, and control; autonomous control; trajectory optimization; formation and reconfiguration

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