Skybound Surveillance: Enhancing Road Network Efficiency with Drone Inspections

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid evolution of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is transforming the way transportation systems and road networks are monitored, inspected, and managed. Rising traffic demand, aging infrastructure, safety challenges, and sustainability pressures are common to both developing and developed countries. Traditional inspection and monitoring practices are often time-consuming, costly, and limited in spatial and temporal coverage. In contrast, UAVs offer flexible, high-resolution, and timely data acquisition capabilities that can support more efficient, safer, and smarter transportation systems.

The aims of this Special Issue include the following:

• Advancing the scientific foundations and applied methodologies of UAV-based monitoring in transportation and traffic engineering;
• Promoting interdisciplinary integration between UAV technologies, aviation systems, human factors, and intelligent transportation systems;
• Supporting the development, adoption, and operational deployment of UAVs for road network efficiency, safety, and asset management;
• Encouraging the application of sustainable and renewable energy technologies in UAV platforms for transportation-related missions;
• Facilitating global knowledge exchange through studies relevant to both developed and developing countries.

This Special Issue aligns fully with the scope of Drones by addressing UAV design, sensing, operations, safety, autonomy, and real-world civil applications in transportation infrastructures.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link (but are not limited to) the following broad themes:

• UAV-based inspection, monitoring, and management of road, bridge, tunnel, and transportation infrastructure.
• UAV-assisted traffic monitoring, congestion analysis, mobility assessment, and intelligent transportation systems.
• Human factors, operator performance, training, workload, decision-making, and human–UAV interaction.
• Aviation systems, UAV flight performance, operational frameworks, and low-altitude airspace integration.
• Artificial intelligence, computer vision, big data, and digital twins for UAV-based transportation applications.
• Sustainable, solar-powered, hybrid, and renewable-energy-based UAV systems for transport monitoring.
• Safety, reliability, risk assessment, and regulatory frameworks for civil and transportation UAV operations.
• Case studies, pilot projects, and large-scale implementations in urban, rural, and inter-urban road networks.
• Policy, governance, economic, and societal aspects of UAV adoption in transportation.
• UAV applications in both developing and developed countries' transportation systems.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Anastasios Dimou
Dr. Omar Alharasees
Dr. Haitham A. Al Hasanat
Dr. Mohammad Saleh Fawaier
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.

• 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