Cross-Modal Autonomous Cooperation for Intelligent Unmanned Systems

Dear Colleagues,

With the rapid advancement of AI and robotics, intelligent unmanned systems are evolving from single-platform automation to multi-domain collaborative autonomy. However, critical challenges associated with cross-modal environmental understanding, heterogeneous group cooperation, and real-time decision-making under dynamic constraints remain. This Special Issue aims to explore innovative solutions that integrate perception, cognition, and action loops in unmanned systems (drones, UGVs, USVs, etc.), with an emphasis on algorithmic innovation, hardware–software co-design, and field validation.

This Special Issue welcomes the submission of original research articles and review papers that provide insights into algorithm design, hardware innovation, system integration, and application expansion, encompassing theoretical breakthroughs, technological verification, and engineering practices. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary approaches (e.g., bionics, edge computing, digital twins) that explore novel paradigms for extreme environments, high-density urban areas, and civil–military integration scenarios.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Autonomous navigation and SLAM technologies;
• Multi-modal sensor fusion and intelligent perception;
• Swarm cooperative control and collective intelligence;
• Lightweight structures and high-efficiency propulsion systems;
• Anti-jamming communications and cyber security;
• Human–machine collaboration with ethical/regulatory frameworks;
• Innovative applications in disaster response, logistics distribution, and environmental monitoring.

This Special Issue welcomes the submission of manuscripts that address the following topics:

• Coupling Mechanisms Between Autonomous Navigation and Multi-Modal Perception
  Investigating the closed-loop optimization of environmental perception (e.g., vision, LiDAR, mmWave radar fusion) and autonomous decision-making (dynamic path planning, obstacle avoidance), with a focus on the real-time performance and robustness of the perception-decision-execution chain in extreme environments (e.g., dense urban areas, subterranean spaces).
• Dynamic Balance Between Swarm Intelligence and Communication Security
  Studying the interplay among multi-UAV cooperative task allocation, formation control, and anti-jamming communication technologies. A distributed cooperative framework will be proposed to balance efficiency and privacy protection, addressing the challenges of information overload and security vulnerabilities in high-density swarm scenarios.
• Co-Design of Energy Management and System Efficiency
  Revealing the relationship between lightweight structures, high-efficiency propulsion systems (e.g., hydrogen fuel cells, hybrid solar-lithium power), and mission endurance. Adaptive energy scheduling algorithms and mission planning strategies will be explored for joint optimization.
• Co-Evolution of Human–Machine Interaction and Ethical Regulatory Frameworks
  Analyzing the impact of human intervention levels (from full autonomy to semi-autonomy) on system reliability. An ethically compliant human–UAV cooperative operation framework will be developed, with considerations for current airspace management and data privacy regulations.
• Virtual-Physical Interaction via Digital Twin Technologies
  Focusing on digital twin applications across the unmanned system lifecycle (design-testing-operation), this research examines bidirectional calibration mechanisms between simulation models and physical systems to enhance the transferability of algorithms and the applicability of engineering.

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

Prof. Dr. Xingling Shao
Prof. Dr. Ben Niu
Dr. Feisheng Yang
Dr. Ziquan Yu
Dr. Qiang Zhang
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

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