Drones

UAV-Assisted Mobile Wireless Networks and Applications

edited by

Tomotaka Kimura

and

Chinthaka Premachandra

submission deadline 9 May 2025 | 10 articles | Viewed by 15722 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV networks; mobility management; network control; routing; traffic management

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advances in Detection and Tracking Applications for Drones and UAM Systems

edited by

Giancarlo Rufino

and

Claudia Conte

submission deadline 10 May 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 23337 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial systems; urban air mobility; sense and avoid; artificial intelligence; sensor fusion; tracking

Emerging Technologies and Innovations in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Control Systems

edited by

Emanuele Luigi de Angelis

submission deadline 10 May 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 19811 | Submission Open

Keywords: guidance; navigation; and control; sensor design and state estimation; nano technologies; urban air mobility and delivery; space– air– ground integrated network; drone design and development; artificial intelligence; manned-to-unmanned transition; swarming and collaborative tasks; onboard computing

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Advanced Cross-Domain Unmanned Platform Command and Security Technology

edited by

Haibin Duan

, Jialong Zhang and

Shuangxi Liu

submission deadline 10 May 2025 | 8 articles | Viewed by 5327 | Submission Open

Keywords: intelligent control; cross-domain; command; cooperation technologies; security; heterogeneous UAV swarms; unmanned platforms

Advances in UAV Networks Towards 6G

edited by Changchuan Yin,

Zhaohui Yang

and Mingzhe Chen

submission deadline 15 May 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1959 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV swarm; integrated space– air– ground networks; positioning; trajectory design; data collection

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Autonomous Drone Navigation in GPS-Denied Environments

edited by

Hector Gutierrez

and Yang Liu

submission deadline 15 May 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1569 | Submission Open

Keywords: autonomous drone navigation; GPS-denied environment; visual– inertial navigation; visual– inertial odometry; simultaneous localization and mapping; resource-constrained autonomous navigation; robust dynamic sensor calibration

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Recent Advances in Crop Protection Using UAV and UGV

edited by

Ruirui Zhang

,

Andrew Hewitt

and

Ahamed Tofael

submission deadline 16 May 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 33150 | Submission Open

Keywords: crop protection; chemical application; remote sensing; intelligent agriculture; forest protection; precision agriculture; agriculture aerial application

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

Drones and Machine Learning as a Complementary Tools in Wildlife Biology Studies

edited by

Cino Pertoldi

and

Sussie Pagh

submission deadline 16 May 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 588 | Submission Open

Keywords: drones; machine learning; Yolo; DeepLabCut; IR Camera; artificial intelligence; behavioural studies

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Advanced Autonomous Mobility Toward Low-Altitude Economy and Three-Dimensional Transportation Systems

edited by Xiangkun He, Hailong Huang, Caizheng Wang and Henglai Wei

submission deadline 23 May 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 11444 | Submission Open

Keywords: autonomous aerial vehicles for urban air mobility; autonomous ground vehicles for smart cities; end-to-end autonomous ground and aerial vehicle technologies; AI and machine learning applications in 3D traffic management; cybersecurity and privacy concerns in connected aerial and ground mobility ; autonomous multimodal mobility technologies; 3D transportation infrastructure planning and design; sensor technologies and perception systems for 3D transportation navigation; energy-efficient propulsion systems for aerial vehicles ; human factors for aerial autonomous mobility

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

Reliable and Green Long-Endurance Drones

edited by

Gianpietro Di Rito

submission deadline 26 May 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 3532 | Submission Open

Keywords: full-electric/hybrid propulsion; power management optimization; innovative aerodynamics; digital twin; fault-tolerant systems; diagnostics and prognostics; reliability/safety analysis

Autonomous Flight of Drone: Control, Trajectory Optimization and Mission Planning: 2nd Edition

edited by

Yu Wu

and

Liguo Sun

submission deadline 31 May 2025 | 11 articles | Viewed by 13623 | Submission Open

Keywords: pilot control; intelligent control; UAV formation control; trajectory optimization; mission planning; autonomous system

Unconventional Drone-Based Surveying 2nd Edition

edited by

Arianna Pesci

,

Giordano Teza

and

Massimo Fabris

submission deadline 31 May 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 7936 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV/USV/UUV; structure-from-motion; LiDAR; thermal imaging; multispectral/hyperspectral imaging; acoustic sensors and sonars; autonomous drones for surveying; swarms of drones; operation in hard environments

Advances in Perception and Artificial Intelligence for Autonomous Vehicles

edited by Rohan Chandra and

Shiva Raj Pokhrel

submission deadline 31 May 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2822 | Submission Open

Keywords: generative AI; perception; large language models; foundation models; deep learning; sensor fusion; autonomous vehicles; semantic communication

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

Biological UAV Swarm Control

edited by

Haibin Duan

and

Youmin Zhang

submission deadline 31 May 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 1619 | Submission Open

Keywords: biological swarm intelligence; swarm autonomous control; pigeon-inspired optimization

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

UAV Piloting, Training, Cooperation, and Interaction

edited by David Nembhard and Runwen Qin

submission deadline 5 Jun 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1387 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV piloting; HRI; UAV cooperation; pilot training; pilot biometrics; human performance in complex systems

Drones for Mapping and Monitoring Wetland Ecosystems

edited by

Ricardo Díaz-Delgado

submission deadline 16 Jun 2025 | Viewed by 614 | Submission Open

Keywords: wetlands; long-term monitoring; mapping with drones; survey; sampling; conservation; harmful blooms

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Advances in Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

edited by Yueneng Yang

submission deadline 20 Jun 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 24991 | Submission Open

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: On Selected Areas of Quantum Engineering, Internet, Privacy, and Security in Drones

edited by

Shiva Raj Pokhrel

submission deadline 20 Jun 2025 | Viewed by 321 | Submission Open

Keywords: quantum internet; quantum communication theory; quantum computing; quantum sensing; quantum codesign over drones; quantum communication protocols; quantum aerial networks; quantum experimental results; quantum prototypes; quantum demonstrations; quantum testbeds; quantum aerial vehicles; quantum theory; quantum aerial communication; quantum navigation; quantum system architectures; quantum drones; quantum repeaters; quantum routing; quantum aerial applications; quantum design principles; quantum-enhanced aerial networks; intelligent quantum methods for drones; quantum entanglement; quantum error techniques; quantum privacy; quantum security; advanced quantum transduction; quantum classification network; federated quantum learning; quantum network; quantum information; quantum computing; quantum technologies; federated quantum learning framework; quantum information-theoretic security; quantum machine learning models; quantum performance metrics; quantum learnable parameters; quantum state; quantum global parameters; quantum entangled state; quantum local training; quantum scheduling algorithm; quantum joint learning; quantum quantization noise; quantum circuit; quantum key distribution; quantum error correction; quantum memory; quantum operations; quantum gates; quantum cryptography; quantum channel; quantum resources; quantum client data; quantum transfer parameters; quantum decoherence; quantum machine learning integration; quantum machine learning algorithms

Advances in Detection, Security, and Communication for UAV: 2nd Edition

edited by

Liuguo Yin

and

Shu Fu

submission deadline 25 Jun 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 2162 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV communication; UAV network and 6G; UAV system architecture; interference management; artificial intelligence; detection and data collection; image processing; UAV network security

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

AI-Assisted Control Strategies and Their Applications to the Stabilization, Guidance and Navigation of Drones

edited by

Agostino De Marco

submission deadline 27 Jun 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 14044 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone technology; optimal design; drone dynamics; drone navigation; machine learning; design optimization; dynamic modeling; navigation systems; autonomous drones; object detection; collision avoidance; tracking systems

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Intelligent Autonomous Control and Swarm Cooperative Control of Unmanned Systems

edited by

Ziyang Zhen

and

Jia Song

submission deadline 30 Jun 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 13481 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned system ; unmanned aerial vehicle ; UAV swarm ; cooperative control ; swarm intelligence ; autonomous control ; guidance; navigation and control

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Drone-Centric Optical Wireless Networks: Innovations in 6G, AI, and Hybrid Communication Systems

edited by

Muhammad Saadi

, Demostenes Zegarra Rodriguez, Shahid Mumtaz and

Sushank Chaudhary

submission deadline 30 Jun 2025 | Viewed by 432 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone optical wireless communication; aerial free space optics; 6G networks; drone-based access points; AI-driven optimization; hybrid optical and RF systems; latency-sensitive applications; intelligent transportation systems; security in optical wireless networks; drone communication systems

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Urban Traffic Monitoring and Analysis Using UAVs

edited by

Wim Ectors

, Ansar Yasar and

Stéphane Galland

submission deadline 15 Jul 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1604 | Submission Open

Keywords: urban traffic monitoring; unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); data analytics; smart cities; traffic flow optimization; traffic safety; real-time; intelligent transportation systems; multi-UAV systems; traffic enforcement

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

Drones for Green Areas, Green Infrastructure and Landscape Monitoring

edited by

Lorena Parra

submission deadline 18 Jul 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2580 | Submission Open

Keywords: precision urban agriculture; remote sensing; unmanned aerial vehicles; green areas; image processing; object detection; green infrastructure

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Space–Air–Ground Integrated Networks for 6G

edited by

Sai Huang

,

Weiwei Jiang

,

Yafeng Zhan

, Ray E. Sheriff and Zhiyong Feng

submission deadline 25 Jul 2025 | 12 articles | Viewed by 16191 | Submission Open

Keywords: satellite- and UAV-assisted 6G communications; space– air– ground integrated network; integrated sensing and communications; trajectory optimization and resource allocation; physical layer security and radio monitoring; artificial intelligence in SAGINs for 6G communications; unmanned aerial vehicles; drone communications; UAV ad hoc networks; unmanned aerial systems

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Drone-Based Wildlife Protection, Monitoring, and Conservation Management：2nd Edition

edited by

Humberto Perotto-Baldivieso

and

Aaron M. Foley

submission deadline 31 Jul 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 4031 | Submission Open

Keywords: habitat monitoring; LiDAR; population estimation; thermal; wildlife conservation; wildlife management; wildlife monitoring; wildlife species detection

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Intelligent Control and Optimization of Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

edited by Zongyang Lv, Qing Zhao and Hao Wei

submission deadline 1 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 268 | Submission Open

Keywords: eVTOL; UAV; optimal control; intelligent control; nonlinear control; fault-tolerant control

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Design and Flight Control of Low-Speed Near-Space Unmanned Systems

edited by Ming Zhu, Xixiang Yang and Tian Chen

submission deadline 4 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 267 | Submission Open

Keywords: near space; high altitude platform station; solar powered unmanned systems; high altitude balloon; overall design of aircraft; flight control; solar energy cycle system; ultra-light construction; near-space low-speed unmanned aircraft

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Advances in GPTs for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

edited by

Jie Zeng

,

Tiejun Lv

and

Xin Su

submission deadline 15 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 349 | Submission Open

Keywords: GPTs; UAV network; navigation; sensor fusion; UAV swarm; cooperative sensing

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Dynamics Modeling and Conceptual Design of UAVs

edited by Ni Li, Ban Wang, Shuhui Bu and

Mostafa Hassanalian

submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 12706 | Submission Open

Keywords: dynamics modeling; conceptual design; UAV; control strategies; system identification

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Applications in Critical Industrial Sectors

edited by

Dayi Zhang

, Gordon Dobie and

Jesus Enrique Sierra-Garcia

submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2326 | Submission Open

Keywords: advanced unmanned aerial vehicles; unmanned aerial vehicles in industrial sectors; autonomous UAV systems; UAV-based critical infrastructure monitoring; hazardous environment inspection using UAVs; UAV technology advancements; infrastructure maintenance using UAVs; UAV environmental impact assessment

Cooperative Perception for Modern Transportation

edited by

Jinsheng Xiao

,

Jian Zhou

, Sheng Bao and Hailong Shi

submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1202 | Submission Open

Keywords: Fusion perception of visual; infrared; laser; and other sensors.; Intelligent video surveillance in modern transportation systems.; Remote sensing and data analysis for modern transportation.; Localization and high-definition map for transportation.; Deep-reinforcement learning for multi-unmanned traffic systems; Application of artificial intelligence for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and self-driving vehicles (SDVs); ; Modeling; simulation; and dynamic analysis of the collaboration system for UAVs and SDVs; ; UAV and SDV decision making in a complex urban traffic environment; ; Parameter identification and state estimation of UAVs and SDVs; ; Trajectory prediction and its application to intelligent transportation systems; ; Design of new sensors and novel estimation and data fusion algorithms for UAVs and SDVs.; Dynamic vision sensor and its application in intelligent transportation.; Spiking Neural Network and neuromorphic computing.

(This special issue belongs to the Section Innovative Urban Mobility)

Drones in Hydrological Research and Management

edited by

Dalia Calneryte

,

Robert Szczepanek

and

Jarosław Chormański

submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 640 | Submission Open

Keywords: hydrological research; disaster management; image analysis; machine learning; sustainable development; water quality

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

Innovative Applications of UAVs in Search and Rescue: Improving Safety and Effectiveness

edited by Kristian Amadori and Christopher Jouannet

submission deadline 20 Aug 2025 | Viewed by 418 | Submission Open

Keywords: search and rescue (SAR); unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); drone technology; system of systems (SoS); sensor integration; real-time data processing; multi-UAV Coordination; autonomy and AI; situational awareness; flight safety and regulation

Mission Planning, Perception and Control for Drones in Wide-Area Operations

edited by

Weiran Yao

, Xiangyu Shao, Yuehua Liu, Liming Xin and Jiatao Ding

submission deadline 22 Aug 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 6283 | Submission Open

Keywords: motion control and path planning for wide-area operating drones; mission planning for wide-area operating drones; task decomposition and allocation for wide-area operating drones; simultaneous localization and mapping in a complex environment; vision recognition and detection; intelligent perception techniques; model-based predictive control for intelligent systems; robust control; sliding mode control; and adaptive control; deep learning and reinforcement learning; architecture for learning and control integration; advanced decision and control methods for unmanned systems; intelligent swarm and formation

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Drones for Wildfire and Prescribed Fire Science

edited by Brian K. Gullett, Johanna Aurell, Pantelis Velanas,

Diego González-Aguilera

and Katerina Margariti

submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 25302 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aircraft systems; drones; wildland fire; fire dynamics; sensors; firefighter safety; plume dispersion; meteorological measurements; fire emissions; exposure risk; fire prevention; fire response; fire restoration

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in UAV Technology

edited by

Zhaodan Kong

, Peng Wei, William J. Beksi and Dongfang Liu

submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 8 articles | Viewed by 21816 | Submission Open

Keywords: artificial intelligence; machine learning; UAV; object detection and tracking; localization and navigation; decision making; planning and control; swarm coordination; geospatial mapping; precision agriculture; environmental monitoring

Advances in Cartography, Mission Planning, Path Search, and Path Following for Drones

edited by

Adrian Marius Deaconu

,

Razvan Udroiu

and Delia Elena Spridon

submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 8 articles | Viewed by 13788 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone; UAV; cartography; path following; mission planning; machine learning; sensor fusion; data acquisition

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Advances in Deep Learning for Drones and Its Applications: 2nd Edition

edited by

Inkyu Sa

,

Marija Popovic

and Ho Seok Ahn

submission deadline 25 Aug 2025 | 5 articles | Viewed by 6117 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs; aerial robots; drones; remote sensing; deep learning; deep neural networks; computer vision; robotic perception

Swarm Intelligence-Inspired Planning and Control for Drones

edited by

Kaiyu Qin

, Haitao Nie, Jinliang Shao,

,

,

and

submission deadline 28 Aug 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2738 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone task and path planning; cooperative control; collision avoidance; swarm intelligence-based optimization; communication and coordination

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

Intelligent Image Processing and Sensing for Drones, 2nd Edition

edited by

Seokwon Yeom

submission deadline 29 Aug 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 19806 | Submission Open

Keywords: visible/infrared thermal/multispectral image analysis; LiDAR/SAR with a drone; security and surveillance; monitoring and inspection; object detection; classification; and tracking; segmentation and feature extraction; image registration and visualization

Feature Papers for Drones in Agriculture and Forestry Section: 2nd Edition

edited by

Yangquan Chen

and

Fei Liu

submission deadline 31 Aug 2025 | 9 articles | Viewed by 10298 | Submission Open

Keywords: drones for agriculture:; personal remote sensing (PRS); smart farming (crops; dairy; grazing; etc.); site-specific management (SSM) of water; pesticide; fertilizer; etc.; integrated pest management (IPM); phenotyping; yield prediction; environmental emissions (GHG; dust; etc.); water-saving agriculture and irrigation management; applications (crop dusting; seeding; etc.); soil moisture; soil health; soil variability; and carbon-negative practices; smart sensing and smart big data analytics; drones for forestry:; forest fire sensing and management; precision forestry and forestry management; forest mapping and biodiversity; mapping of canopy distribution and gaps; capturing forestry informatics (biomass; stockpile; fuel load; etc.); three-dimensional mapping for carbon storage; tree planting and reforesting with drones; applications (surface fertilizer; growth stimulant; pesticides; etc.); monitoring illegal logging and quarrying (forest security); combating deforestation and desert forestation dynamics; smart sensing and smart big data analytics

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

Recent Development in Drones Icing

edited by

Eric Villeneuve

and

Richard Hann

submission deadline 12 Sep 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 3858 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); aircraft icing; aviation safety; ice detection; de-icing technologies weather resilience

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Design and Development)

UAS in Smart Agriculture: 2nd Edition

edited by

Fei Liu

and

Yangquan Chen

submission deadline 15 Sep 2025 | 5 articles | Viewed by 10309 | Submission Open

Keywords: smart agriculture; digital agriculture; remote sensing; unmanned control and operation systems; multi-resource image processing technology; deep learning; plant phenotype; plant disease and pest diagnosis; crop and orchard yield monitoring; weed detection; soil monitoring; 3D digital technology; spraying and sowing systems; variable operation prescription technology

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Agriculture and Forestry)

The Conceptual Design Methodology for UAV: New Research and New Development

edited by

Jie Li

, Jinli Suo, Meng Guo, Min Chang, Zhaowei Ma and

Changyun Wei

submission deadline 16 Sep 2025 | 5 articles | Viewed by 10688 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); hybrid aquatic aerial vehicle (HAAV); smart materials and aircraft structures design for drones; new energy and power systems for drones; GPS-denied autonomous localization of UAVs; robust and fast maneuver control for drones; emergent behaviors in swarm; large language model for swarm interaction

UAV Agricultural Management: Recent Advances and Future Prospects

edited by

Hamdi Zurqani

and

Alessandro Matese

submission deadline 19 Sep 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2020 | Submission Open

Keywords: enhanced crop monitoring using UAVs; real-time monitoring of plant health; optimal resource allocation for farming; detecting and preventing crop diseases; automated irrigation systems using UAVs; improved pest management strategies; high-resolution data for yield prediction; timely identification of nutrient deficiencies; enhanced crop scouting capabilities; minimizing chemical input with UAVs; optimizing harvest timing using drones; sustainable agriculture through UAVs

Advances in Autonomy of Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

edited by

Neil Bose

, Shuangshuang Fan and

Jimin Hwang

submission deadline 20 Sep 2025 | 5 articles | Viewed by 5266 | Submission Open

Keywords: autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs); underwater gliders; guidance; navigation; and control; informative planning; AI and machine learning; online decision-making; adaptive sampling; sensor fusion; underwater communication; multi-vehicle coordination; mission-oriented autonomy

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Enhanced Emergency Response

edited by

Neng Ye

, Wonjae Shin,

Jianguo Li

and Xiangming Li

submission deadline 20 Sep 2025 | 5 articles | Viewed by 4575 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs; emergency response; situational awareness; autonomous navigation; edge computing; multi-UAV cooperation; space– air– ground-integrated network; secure information exchange

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advances in IoT and Wireless Networks of UAVs: State of the Art, Achievements and Perspectives

edited by David Gesbert, Rajeev Gangula, Omid Esrafilian and Satyam Agarwal

submission deadline 25 Sep 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 5689 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs; aerial corridor connectivity; internet of drone things (IoDT); O-RAN; UAV localization and sensing; UAV path planning

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based Hyperspectral Imaging for Earth Observation

edited by

J. Pablo Arroyo-Mora

,

Margaret Kalacska

and Niall Origo

submission deadline 25 Sep 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 5538 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial system (UAS); unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS); cal/val; hyperspectral; earth observation applications; UAV-HSI uncertainty; radiometric assessment; geometric assessment; earth observation

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drones in Ecology)

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