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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Drone-Based Wildlife Protection, Monitoring, and Conservation Management:2nd Edition submission deadline 31 Jul 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 8803
Keywords: habitat monitoring; LiDAR; population estimation; thermal; wildlife conservation; wildlife management; wildlife monitoring; wildlife species detection
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)
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 1 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 397 | 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)
Design and Flight Control of Low-Speed Near-Space Unmanned Systems
edited by Ming Zhu, Xixiang Yang and Tian Chen
submission deadline 4 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1154 | Submission Open
Keywords: near space; high altitude platform station; solar powered unmanned systems; high altitude balloon; 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)
Advances in AI Large Models for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
edited by , and
submission deadline 15 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 520 | Submission Open
Keywords: AI large models; UAV network; navigation; sensor fusion; UAV swarm; cooperative sensing
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)
Dynamics Modeling and Conceptual Design of UAVs
edited by Ni Li, Ban Wang, Shuhui Bu and
submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 8 articles | Viewed by 16552 | Submission Open
Keywords: dynamics modeling; conceptual design; UAV; control strategies; system identification
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Applications in Critical Industrial Sectors
edited by , Gordon Dobie and
submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2908 | 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
Cooperative Perception for Modern Transportation
edited by , , Sheng Bao and Hailong Shi
submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2587 | Submission Open
Keywords: Fusion perception of visual; infrared; laser; and other sensors.; Intelligent video surveillance in modern transportation systems.; Remote sensing and data analysis for modern transportation.; Localization and high-definition map for transportation.; Deep-reinforcement learning for multi-unmanned traffic systems; Application of artificial intelligence for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and self-driving vehicles (SDVs); ; Modeling; simulation; and dynamic analysis of the collaboration system for UAVs and SDVs; ; UAV and SDV decision making in a complex urban traffic environment; ; Parameter identification and state estimation of UAVs and SDVs; ; Trajectory prediction and its application to intelligent transportation systems; ; Design of new sensors and novel estimation and data fusion algorithms for UAVs and SDVs.; Dynamic vision sensor and its application in intelligent transportation.; Spiking Neural Network and neuromorphic computing.
(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)
Innovative Applications of UAVs in Search and Rescue: Improving Safety and Effectiveness
edited by Kristian Amadori and Christopher Jouannet
submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2273 | Submission Open
Keywords: search and rescue (SAR); unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); drone technology; system of systems (SoS); sensor integration; real-time data processing; multi-UAV Coordination; autonomy and AI; situational awareness; flight safety and regulation
Drones in Hydrological Research and Management submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1103 | 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)
Mission Planning, Perception and Control for Drones in Wide-Area Operations
edited by , Xiangyu Shao, Yuehua Liu, Liming Xin and Jiatao Ding
submission deadline 22 Aug 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 9052 | 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)
Drones for Wildfire and Prescribed Fire Science
edited by Brian K. Gullett, Johanna Aurell, Pantelis Velanas, and Katerina Margariti
submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 30918 | Submission Open
Keywords: unmanned aircraft systems; drones; wildland fire; fire dynamics; sensors; firefighter safety; plume dispersion; meteorological measurements; fire emissions; exposure risk; fire prevention; fire response; fire restoration
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in UAV Technology
edited by , Peng Wei, William J. Beksi and Dongfang Liu
submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 8 articles | Viewed by 28551 | Submission Open
Keywords: artificial intelligence; machine learning; UAV; object detection and tracking; localization and navigation; decision making; planning and control; swarm coordination; geospatial mapping; precision agriculture; environmental monitoring
Advances in Cartography, Mission Planning, Path Search, and Path Following for Drones
edited by , and Delia Elena Spridon
submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 10 articles | Viewed by 20839 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone; UAV; cartography; path following; mission planning; machine learning; sensor fusion; data acquisition
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Advances in Deep Learning for Drones and Its Applications: 2nd Edition
edited by , and Ho Seok Ahn
submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 9813 | Submission Open
Keywords: UAVs; aerial robots; drones; remote sensing; deep learning; deep neural networks; computer vision; robotic perception
Swarm Intelligence-Inspired Planning and Control for Drones
edited by , Haitao Nie, Jinliang Shao, , , and
submission deadline 28 Aug 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 3751 | Submission Open
Keywords: drone task and path planning; cooperative control; collision avoidance; swarm intelligence-based optimization; communication and coordination
(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)
Intelligent Image Processing and Sensing for Drones, 2nd Edition
edited by
submission deadline 29 Aug 2025 | 11 articles | Viewed by 27154 | 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 14881 | 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 5792 | 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 11656 | 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 | 5 articles | Viewed by 14457 | 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 2294 | 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 9036 | 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 | 5 articles | Viewed by 6467 | 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 8288 | 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 | 5 articles | Viewed by 6741 | 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 5886 | 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 9181 | 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 1444 | 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 4064 | 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 4764 | 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 933 | 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 94 | 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 2617 | 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 1117 | 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 128 | 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 2108 | 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 13934 | 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 4710 | 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 3315 | 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 | 10 articles | Viewed by 16025 | 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 2877 | 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 18552 | 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 6887 | 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 190 | 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 1306 | 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 937 | 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 181 | 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 15841 | 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 262 | 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 | Viewed by 154 | Submission Open
Keywords: autonomous underwater drones; AUV; control algorithms; navigation algorithms; driving mechanisms; design of drones
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