UAV Path Planning Algorithms for Surveillance and Reconnaissance in Civil Applications

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in UAV path planning algorithms designed for surveillance and reconnaissance in civil applications. As unmanned aerial systems become increasingly integral to tasks such as environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, disaster response, and public safety, the need for robust, intelligent, and adaptive navigation strategies has grown significantly. This Issue aims to showcase innovative approaches in autonomous navigation, including the integration of machine learning techniques for real-time decision-making, obstacle avoidance, cooperative multi-UAV coordination, and trajectory optimization in complex and dynamic environments. Manuscripts related but not limited to design and development, guidance, navigation, and control (GNC), virtual simulations, and ground testing of UAVs are welcome. We invite researchers and engineers to contribute their original research, focusing on (but not limited to) the topics listed below:

• Path planning algorithms
• Civil surveillance
• Reconnaissance missions
• Autonomous navigation
• Obstacle avoidance
• Multi-UAV systems
• Machine learning for navigation
• Deep reinforcement learning
• Real-time trajectory optimization
• Cooperative motion planning
• Sensor fusion
• Urban monitoring
• Disaster response
• Infrastructure inspection
• Rotary-wing, fixed-wing and convertible UAVs
• Ethics and regulation in UAV operations

Prof. Dr. Octavio Garcia-Salazar
Prof. Dr. Anand Sanchez-Orta
Dr. Aldo Jonathan Muñoz-Vazquez
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.