Advances and Innovations in Drone Technology for Mining and Construction Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid evolution of drone technology has brought transformative changes to the mining and construction industries, offering unprecedented opportunities for efficiency, safety, and sustainability. We invite submissions for this Special Issue exploring the latest advancements in and practical applications of drones (UAVs) to address critical challenges in these dynamic sectors, including the following:

• Terrain modeling, stockpile volumetrics, and real-time progress monitoring.
• Remote inspections of hazardous sites (e.g., unstable slopes, highwalls) to reduce human risk.
• Autonomous flight, predictive analytics, and automated defect detection using aerial data.
• The monitoring of rehabilitation, erosion, and biodiversity impacts.
• Coordination with the IoT, robotics, and digital twins for workflow optimization.

This Special Issue invites researchers and industry professionals to share their insights, case studies, and innovations, fostering a deeper understanding of how drone technology is shaping the future of mining and construction. We welcome original research, reviews, and technical reports that highlight both challenges and breakthroughs in this rapidly advancing field.

Dr. Yewuhalashet Fissha
Dr. Hajime Ikeda
Dr. Natsuo Okada
Dr. Abhishek Kumar Tripathi
Dr. Debashish Chakravarty
Dr. Muhammad Zaka Emad
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.