Intelligent Cooperative Control and Application of Unmanned Surface/Underwater Vehicles
A special issue of Drones (ISSN 2504-446X). This special issue belongs to the section "Unmanned Surface and Underwater Drones".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 145
Special Issue Editors
Interests: intelligent control of underwater vehicles
Interests: robust control for multi-agent systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117411, Singapore
Interests: intelligent transportation system; unmanned surface vehicles; multi-source data fusion
Interests: marine robotics; system identification; model predictive control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The advancement of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has significantly expanded the scope of operations in maritime and aerial environments. At the core of these platforms lies intelligent control technology, which is essential for maintaining stability and tracking precision under complex environmental disturbances. Robust control laws serve as the fundamental backbone, enabling unmanned systems to transition from basic automation to high-level operational autonomy. Building upon individual performance, cooperative control has emerged as a critical frontier, allowing groups of vehicles to perform synchronized missions through collective intelligence and distributed coordination. To achieve this, it is vital to integrate control with advanced path planning, mission planning, and intelligent navigation to ensure safe and efficient execution in dynamic environments. Furthermore, the integration of embodied artificial intelligence (AI) represents a transformative shift, enabling these vehicles to perceive, learn, and interact with their physical surroundings more intuitively.
The goal of this Special Issue is to collect high-quality papers (original research and reviews) providing insights into the intelligent cooperative control, navigation, and planning of USV/UUV/AUV systems. We aim to bridge the gap between theoretical control algorithms and practical engineering applications for both individual and cooperative unmanned platforms. This focus aligns perfectly with the scope of Drones, fostering innovations that enhance the autonomy, resilience, and collaborative efficiency of unmanned vehicles across diverse environments.
This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:
- Modeling and simulation technology for USV/UUV/AUV;
- Path planning method for USV/UUV/AUV;
- Automatic berthing/landing control for USV/UUV/AUV;
- Cooperative control method for USV/UUV/AUV;
- Landing control and roll reduction for USV/UUV/AUV;
- Automatic collision avoidance for USV/UUV/AUV;
- Intelligent navigation technology for USV/UUV/AUV;
- Mission planning for USV/UUV/AUV;
- Embodied artificial intelligence of swarm USV/UUV/AUV;
- Consensus control for swarm USV/UUV/AUV;
- Cross-domain cooperation for heterogeneous USV/UUV/AUV;
- Other related themes.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.
Prof. Dr. Lu Liu
Prof. Dr. Guoqing Zhang
Dr. Maohan Liang
Dr. Yifan Xue
Guest Editors
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. Drones is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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
- cooperative control
- artificial intelligence
- mission plan
- distributed system
- game optimization
- formation control
- collision avoidance
- system identification
- underwater navigation
- visual servo control
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