Special Issues

Drones publishes Special Issues to create collections of papers on specific topics, with the aim of building a community of authors and readers to discuss the latest research and develop new ideas and research directions. Special Issues are led by Guest Editors, who are experts on the topic and all Special Issue submissions follow MDPI's standard editorial process. The journal’s Editor-in-Chief and/or designated Editorial Board Member will oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, checking their content for relevance and ensuring the suitability of the material for the journal. The papers published in a Special Issue will be collected and displayed on a dedicated page of the journal’s website. Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies and Guest Editor responsibilities can be found here. For any inquiries related to a Special Issue, please contact the Editorial Office.

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Intelligent Image Processing and Sensing for Drones, 2nd Edition
edited by
submission deadline 29 Aug 2025 | 11 articles | Viewed by 29712 | Submission Open
Keywords: visible/infrared thermal/multispectral image analysis; LiDAR/SAR with a drone; security and surveillance; monitoring and inspection; object detection; classification; and tracking; segmentation and feature extraction; image registration and visualization
Feature Papers for Drones in Agriculture and Forestry Section: 2nd Edition
edited by and
submission deadline 31 Aug 2025 | 11 articles | Viewed by 16368 | Submission Open
Keywords: drones for agriculture:; personal remote sensing (PRS); smart farming (crops; dairy; grazing; etc.); site-specific management (SSM) of water; pesticide; fertilizer; etc.; integrated pest management (IPM); phenotyping; yield prediction; environmental emissions (GHG; dust; etc.); water-saving agriculture and irrigation management; applications (crop dusting; seeding; etc.); soil moisture; soil health; soil variability; and carbon-negative practices; smart sensing and smart big data analytics; drones for forestry:; forest fire sensing and management; precision forestry and forestry management; forest mapping and biodiversity; mapping of canopy distribution and gaps; capturing forestry informatics (biomass; stockpile; fuel load; etc.); three-dimensional mapping for carbon storage; tree planting and reforesting with drones; applications (surface fertilizer; growth stimulant; pesticides; etc.); monitoring illegal logging and quarrying (forest security); combating deforestation and desert forestation dynamics; smart sensing and smart big data analytics
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)
Recent Development in Drones Icing submission deadline 12 Sep 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 6523 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); aircraft icing; aviation safety; ice detection; de-icing technologies weather resilience
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
UAS in Smart Agriculture: 2nd Edition
edited by and
submission deadline 15 Sep 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 12260 | Submission Open
Keywords: smart agriculture; digital agriculture; remote sensing; unmanned control and operation systems; multi-resource image processing technology; deep learning; plant phenotype; plant disease and pest diagnosis; crop and orchard yield monitoring; weed detection; soil monitoring; 3D digital technology; spraying and sowing systems; variable operation prescription technology
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)
The Conceptual Design Methodology for UAV: New Research and New Development
edited by , Jinli Suo, Meng Guo, Min Chang, Zhaowei Ma and
submission deadline 16 Sep 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 16250 | 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
UAV Agricultural Management: Recent Advances and Future Prospects submission deadline 19 Sep 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2367 | Submission Open
Keywords: enhanced crop monitoring using UAVs; real-time monitoring of plant health; optimal resource allocation for farming; detecting and preventing crop diseases; automated irrigation systems using UAVs; improved pest management strategies; high-resolution data for yield prediction; timely identification of nutrient deficiencies; enhanced crop scouting capabilities; minimizing chemical input with UAVs; optimizing harvest timing using drones; sustainable agriculture through UAVs
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Enhanced Emergency Response
edited by , Wonjae Shin, and Xiangming Li
submission deadline 20 Sep 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 10547 | 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)
Advances in Autonomy of Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)
edited by , Shuangshuang Fan and
submission deadline 20 Sep 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 7509 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs); underwater gliders; guidance; navigation; and control; informative planning; AI and machine learning; online decision-making; adaptive sampling; sensor fusion; underwater communication; multi-vehicle coordination; mission-oriented autonomy
Advances in IoT and Wireless Networks of UAVs: State of the Art, Achievements and Perspectives
edited by David Gesbert, Rajeev Gangula, Omid Esrafilian and Satyam Agarwal
submission deadline 25 Sep 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 9142 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAVs; aerial corridor connectivity; internet of drone things (IoDT); O-RAN; UAV localization and sensing; UAV path planning
Advances of UAV in Precision Agriculture—2nd Edition
edited by , , and Dongbing Gu
submission deadline 25 Sep 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 8543 | Submission Open
Keywords: agricultural UAV; guidance; navigation and control; SLAM; swarm intelligence; remote sensing; crop phenotype awareness; crop and/or water stress assessment; drones for agricultural applications; drones for precision agriculture; precision viticulture
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based Hyperspectral Imaging for Earth Observation
edited by , and Niall Origo
submission deadline 25 Sep 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 6031 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned aerial system (UAS); unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS); cal/val; hyperspectral; earth observation applications; UAV-HSI uncertainty; radiometric assessment; geometric assessment; earth observation
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Electric-Powered and Hybrid-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology and Applications of Low Altitude Aviation
edited by Wenbiao Gan, Zhou Zhou, and
submission deadline 30 Sep 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 10633 | Submission Open
Keywords: electric-powered aircraft; distributed power; UAV; 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)
Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities submission deadline 30 Sep 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2439 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAM; UAV; smart cities; infrastructure; safety; funding; public policy; urban planning; emergency response; workforce
(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)
Digital Twins and Extended Reality: Opportunities and Challenges of Integrated Applications (2nd Edition)
edited by Daniela Oreni, and
submission deadline 10 Oct 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 4420 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAVs digital twin XR-MR-AR-VR scan-to-BIM— BIM projects; HBIM projects; BIM-to-FEA; CoSim; BEM; InfraBIM conservation; management and dissemination of cultural built heritage fault diagnosis energy; structural analysis; and costs evaluation virtual museum; virtual– visual storytelling drone-based and drone-supported solutions
Visual Language Models and Large Language Models for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles submission deadline 16 Oct 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 5429 | Submission Open
Keywords: large language models; visual language models; unmanned aerial vehicles; autonomous navigation; few-shot learning; intelligent UAV systems
Implementation of UAV Systems for Cultural Heritage submission deadline 20 Oct 2025 | Viewed by 979 | Submission Open
Keywords: cultural heritage; heritage documentation; drones; 3D point clouds; structure from motion; laser scanning; multispectral imaging
When Deep Learning Meets Geometry for Air-to-Ground Perception on Drones: 2nd Edition
edited by , Yangliu Kuai, Hongqi Fan and Gongjian Wen
submission deadline 23 Oct 2025 | Viewed by 122 | Submission Open
Keywords: object detection  ; object tracking  ; object localization  ; object segmentation  ; vision foundation models  ; multimodal data processing
Recent Developments in Artificial Intelligence and Interdisciplinary Research for UAV Application
edited by Haokui Zhang, Liang Wang, Jingtao Sun and Xizhe Xue
submission deadline 25 Oct 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 4359 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV platform; image processing; large language model; visual language model; UAV communication; UAVs in socio-economic development
UAVs for Nature Conservation Tasks in Complex Environments
edited by Tom Richardson, Ulrik Pagh Schultz Lundquist and
submission deadline 31 Oct 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1303 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV/MAV; perception; collaborative; wildlife; complex environments; navigation; mapping; real-time
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Advances in UAV-Based Remote Sensing for Climate-Smart Agriculture
edited by Hongquan Wang, and
submission deadline 31 Oct 2025 | Viewed by 155 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles; remote sensing; climate-smart agriculture; crop phenotyping; precision agriculture
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)
IoT-Enabled UAV Networks for Secure Communication
edited by Bing Chen, , , Yutao Jiao and Zhiyi Tian
submission deadline 6 Nov 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 2600 | 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)
Advances in Civil Applications of Unmanned Aircraft Systems: 2nd Edition
edited by , Fernando Veiga López, Enrique Aldao Pensado and Gabriel Fontenla-Carrera
submission deadline 8 Nov 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 15848 | Submission Open
Keywords: drones; surveying; unmanned aircraft systems; regulations; swarm; photogrammetry; remote sensing; earth observation; guidance; navigation; and control; aerodynamics
Distributed Control, Optimization, and Game of UAV Swarm Systems (2nd Edition)
edited by Zhi Feng, Rui Yan, , Xiaoduo Li and Qing Wang
submission deadline 10 Nov 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 7212 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV swarm systems; distributed control; formation control; distributed optimization; intelligent motion planning; swarm game; distributed Nash equilibrium seeking
Advances in Intelligent Coordination Control for Autonomous UUVs
edited by Haitao Zhang, Bin-Bin Hu, , Mingkang Long and Henglai Wei
submission deadline 10 Nov 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 3602 | Submission Open
Keywords: cooperative control; autonomous underwater unmanned vehicles; decision making; game theory; machine learning; control theory; distributed optimization; intelligent connected vehicles; vehicle dynamics control
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Advanced Autonomous Mobility Toward Low-Altitude Economy and Three-Dimensional Transportation Systems
edited by Xiangkun He, Hailong Huang, Caizheng Wang and Henglai Wei
submission deadline 11 Nov 2025 | 11 articles | Viewed by 18009 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous aerial vehicles for urban air mobility; autonomous ground vehicles for smart cities; end-to-end autonomous ground and aerial vehicle technologies; AI and machine learning applications in 3D traffic management; cybersecurity and privacy concerns in connected aerial and ground mobility  ; autonomous multimodal mobility technologies; 3D transportation infrastructure planning and design; sensor technologies and perception systems for 3D transportation navigation; energy-efficient propulsion systems for aerial vehicles  ; human factors for aerial autonomous mobility
(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)
Wearable Technologies for Driving Drones: Innovations and Applications
edited by , and Bojan Jerbić
submission deadline 12 Nov 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 3152 | Submission Open
Keywords: wearable technology; drone control systems; human– drone interaction; bio-sensing; gesture recognition; haptic feedback; robotics; augmented reality (AR); virtual reality (VR); ergonomics in drone piloting
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Detection, Identification and Tracking of UAVs and Drones
edited by Richard Han, V.P Nguyen, Karthik Dantu and
submission deadline 14 Nov 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 20725 | Submission Open
Keywords: detection; tracking; identification; sensor fusion; artificial intelligence; machine learning; localization
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Drone Communication, Networking, and Trajectory Control in Urban Environments
edited by , Yu Zhang, Ningning Hou and Yimeng Feng
submission deadline 15 Nov 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 8205 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone communication and networking; multi-drone coordination; real-time data transmission; urban air traffic management; drone navigation; trajectory planning; sustainable urban transport; on-board AI processing; millimeter wave radar enabled drone navigation; drone remote sensing using millimeter wave radar; LoRa-assisted drone communication and networking; LoRa for long range drone applications; novel drone applications; drone assisted wireless communications for 5G and beyond; drone security; integrated sensing and communication drone networks; remote object detection from drone; urban computing
(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 15 Nov 2025 | Viewed by 261 | 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
Physical-Layer Security in Drone Communications—2nd Edition
edited by Dongming Li, and Yi Lou
submission deadline 20 Nov 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1569 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone communications; physical-layer security; key generation; drone jitter; beamforming and jamming; trajectory planning
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Unmanned Aerial Manipulation with Physical Interaction
edited by Yushu Yu and Vincenzo Lippiello
submission deadline 20 Nov 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1193 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned aerial manipulation; cooperative unmanned aerial transportation; fully actuated unmanned aerial vehicle; interaction control; human– robot interaction; localization; reinforcement learning
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Advanced Flight Dynamics and Decision-Making for UAV Operations
edited by , , Elias K. Xidias and
submission deadline 20 Nov 2025 | Viewed by 278 | 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)
Advances in the Use of UAVs for Monitoring and Analysis of Forage and Agricultural Crops: Technologies, Methods and Applications
edited by and Luciana Sandra Bastos De Souza
submission deadline 21 Nov 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 17736 | Submission Open
Keywords: precision agriculture; forage crops; agricultural monitoring; image analysis; yield estimation; thermal imaging; machine learning; 3D modeling; data modeling
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)
Innovative Approaches to Biodiversity and Ecology Monitoring: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Drone Technology
edited by
submission deadline 25 Nov 2025 | Viewed by 350 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone imagery; artificial intelligence; biodiversity monitoring; ecological assessment; remote sensing; machine learning; habitat mapping; species distribution; conservation technology; environmental change
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Advances in Autonomous Underwater Drones: 2nd Edition
edited by Daxiong Ji, , Dena Bazazian and Mohd Hisham Bin Nordin
submission deadline 25 Nov 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 291 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous underwater drones; AUV; control algorithms; navigation algorithms; driving mechanisms; design of drones
Advances in Guidance, Navigation, and Control
edited by
submission deadline 30 Nov 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3487 | Submission Open
Keywords: guidance systems; navigation systems; control systems; unmanned systems
Rapid Disaster Assessment and Post-Disaster Recovery Using UAV Remote Sensing submission deadline 30 Nov 2025 | Viewed by 278 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV photogrammetry; rapid mapping; disaster response; post-disaster recovery; change detection; AI and remote sensing; multi-sensor platforms; emergency mapping; UAV-GIS integration; damage assessment
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
Drone-Enabled Smart Sensing: Challenges and Opportunities
edited by , Calvin Coopmans and
submission deadline 5 Dec 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1268 | Submission Open
Keywords: digital twins; smart cities; machine learning; optimal sensor placement; modeling and control; environmental monitoring; precision agriculture; swarm coordination and control; real-time optimization; edge computing; internet of things
Technologies and Applications of UAV Channel Models in Communications and Spectrum Awareness: 2nd Edition submission deadline 10 Dec 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 772 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV channel model; UAV channel sounding; UAV ISAC; UAV communication; UAV spectrum sensing; UAV trajectory planning
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Advances in Internet of Drones: Applications, Communication Infrastructures, Architectures, and Protocols for FANETs submission deadline 10 Dec 2025 | Viewed by 645 | Submission Open
Keywords: Internet of Drones; FANET; architecture; aerial wireless networks; drone communication; swarm communication
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
AI for Cybersecurity in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
edited by , Neji Mensi and Fatima Salahdine
submission deadline 15 Dec 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 5436 | Submission Open
Keywords: AI-based cybersecurity frameworks; UAS cybersecurity; advanced AI models; secure communication protocols; autonomous systems; data privacy
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Path Planning, Trajectory Tracking and Guidance for UAVs: 3rd Edition submission deadline 15 Dec 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 617 | Submission Open
Keywords: path planning; trajectory tracking; guidance; navigation; and control; autonomous control; trajectory optimization; formation and reconfiguration
UAV Piloting, Training, Cooperation, and Interaction
edited by David Nembhard and Runwen Qin
submission deadline 16 Dec 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2034 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAV piloting; HRI; UAV cooperation; pilot training; pilot biometrics; human performance in complex systems
Flight Control and Collision Avoidance of UAVs: 2nd Edition
edited by Rodney Swee Huat Teo and
submission deadline 16 Dec 2025 | Viewed by 130 | Submission Open
Keywords: artificial intelligence; autonomous navigation; collision avoidance; guidance systems; computer vision; obstacle detection; decision making under uncertainty; safety verification; robust control; multi-object tracking and association; visual servoing; conflict prediction; conflict resolution; collision checking; risk assessment
Autonomous Flight of Drone: Control, Trajectory Optimization and Mission Planning: 2nd Edition
edited by and
submission deadline 19 Dec 2025 | 13 articles | Viewed by 21669 | Submission Open
Keywords: pilot control; intelligent control; UAV formation control; trajectory optimization; mission planning; autonomous system
Advances and Innovations in Drone Technology for Mining and Construction Applications
edited by , , , , Debashish Chakravarty and Muhammad Zaka Emad
submission deadline 19 Dec 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1223 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone technology (or UAV/UAS); aerial surveying and mapping; mining automation; construction monitoring; AI and machine learning in drones; safety and hazard inspection; environmental rehabilitation; digitalization in industry; rescue robotics and robotic mapping (UAV and terrestrial)
Resilient Networking and Task Allocation for Drone Swarms: 2nd Edition
edited by , and
submission deadline 25 Dec 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1325 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone swarms; UAV ad hoc networks; swarm cooperative communications; swarm secure issues; swarm cooperative decision making
Autonomous Drone Navigation in GPS-Denied Environments
edited by and Yang Liu
submission deadline 26 Dec 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 6520 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous drone navigation; GPS-denied environment; visual– inertial navigation; visual– inertial odometry; simultaneous localization and mapping; resource-constrained autonomous navigation; robust dynamic sensor calibration
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Control, Planning, and Embodied Intelligence of Agile UAVs in Indoor Environments
edited by , and Lin Zhao
submission deadline 30 Dec 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 455 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous guidance and navigation; agile UAVs; indoor navigation; agile control; perception-aware planning; embodied intelligence
Cross-Modal Autonomous Cooperation for Intelligent Unmanned Systems
edited by Xingling Shao, Ben Niu, Feisheng Yang, Ziquan Yu and
submission deadline 30 Dec 2025 | Viewed by 435 | 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
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