Drones for Rural Areas Management

Dear Colleagues,

The use of drones is growing worldwide, with new applications and usages emerging regularly. In rural areas, drones can conduct many different actions, such as monitoring based on cameras or other sensors, providing connectivity as a mobile gateway, or even transporting products in hard-to-reach areas. Many of these uses can be directly linked with primary sector activity (such as agriculture, farming, etc.), but their use can be extended to other industries and population centers.

This Special Issue aims to collect the latest advances in this broad topic, including the possible applications and the required infrastructure to ensure its operation. The particularities of rural areas mean that some applications should consider certain limitations to ensure their successful operation. Some of these limitations might be lack of internet access, low population density, large areas to be monitored, heterogeneity of the relief, etc. The fields of application of drone usage in rural areas are broad. They might include agriculture, farming, forestry, mining, other industries, environmental monitoring, water quality monitoring of rivers and lakes, firefighting, or assistance to the population, especially older adults. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Environmental monitoring;
• Remote sensing;
• Remote monitoring;
• Wireless sensor networks;
• Time-series analysis;
• 3D mapping;
• Satellite and drone imagery integration;
• Primary sector;
• Rural areas management;
• Drones mesh.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Lorena Parra
Dr. David Mostaza-Colado
Dr. Laura Garcia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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