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Drones publishes Special Issues to create collections of papers on specific topics, with the aim of building a community of authors and readers to discuss the latest research and develop new ideas and research directions. Special Issues are led by Guest Editors, who are experts on the topic and all Special Issue submissions follow MDPI's standard editorial process. The journal’s Editor-in-Chief and/or designated Editorial Board Member will oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, checking their content for relevance and ensuring the suitability of the material for the journal. The papers published in a Special Issue will be collected and displayed on a dedicated page of the journal’s website. Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices and Guest Editor responsibilities can be found here. For any inquiries related to a Special Issue, please contact the Editorial Office.

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Drones for Wildfire and Prescribed Fire Science

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

Diego González-Aguilera

and Katerina Margariti

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | 6 articles | Viewed by 10710 | 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

Evidence-Based Drone Innovation & Research for Healthcare

edited by

Paul Royall

and

Patrick Courtney

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | 3 articles | Viewed by 9130 | Submission Open

Keywords: evidence based; FAIR data; point of care; healthcare drone ontologies; medicine drone delivery; healthcare logistics; UAV for human health; medicine quality; medicine stability; drug packaging; medicine compliance; patient samples

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for Global Challenges: Current Technologies and Future Prospects

edited by

and

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | 2 articles | Viewed by 4812 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAS; UAV; RPAS; and drones; natural disasters; big data; geodata collection and processing; machine and deep learning; three-dimensional mapping

UAV-Assisted Intelligent Vehicular Networks 2nd Edition

edited by

Dawei Wang

and

Ruonan Zhang

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | 4 articles | Viewed by 4181 | Submission Open

Keywords: intelligent transportation systems (ITSs); unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); vehicle-to-everything (V2X); vehicular networks; mobile edge computing (MEC)

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Unconventional Drone-Based Surveying 2nd Edition

edited by

Arianna Pesci

Giordano Teza

and

Massimo Fabris

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | 2 articles | Viewed by 4172 | 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

Cybersecure and Trustworthy Deployment of Drones and Autonomous Vehicles

edited by

Khair Ayman Al-Shamaileh

and

Naima Kaabouch

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | 1 articles | Viewed by 3976 | Submission Open

Keywords: artificial intelligence ; autonomous systems ; cybersecurity ; hardware integration ; signal processing ; unmanned aerial vehicles ; vehicle-to-vehicle communications

(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 31 Dec 2024 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2454 | 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)

UAV Detection, Classification, and Tracking

edited by

and

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | 2 articles | Viewed by 2450 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV detection; UAV classification; UAV tracking; optical sensors; IR sensors; RF sensors; radars; deep learning

UAV Agricultural Management: Recent Advances and Future Prospects

edited by

Hamdi Zurqani

and

Alessandro Matese

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1113 | 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

Visual Language Models and Large Language Models for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

edited by

Carlos Tavares Calafate

I. de Zarzà

and

Joaquim de Curtò i Díaz

submission deadline 31 Dec 2024 | Viewed by 457 | Submission Open

Keywords: large language models; visual language models; unmanned aerial vehicles; autonomous navigation; few-shot learning; intelligent UAV systems

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

edited by

Humberto Perotto-Baldivieso

and

Aaron M. Foley

submission deadline 10 Jan 2025 | Viewed by 195 | 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)

Recent Development in Drones Icing

edited by

Eric Villeneuve

and

Richard Hann

submission deadline 15 Jan 2025 | Viewed by 119 | 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)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based Hyperspectral Imaging for Earth Observation

edited by

J. Pablo Arroyo-Mora

Margaret Kalacska

and Niall Origo

submission deadline 16 Jan 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 4220 | 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)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Applications in Critical Industrial Sectors

edited by

Dayi Zhang

, Gordon Dobie and

Jesus Enrique Sierra-Garcia

submission deadline 16 Jan 2025 | Viewed by 195 | 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

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Enhanced Emergency Response

edited by

Neng Ye

, Wonjae Shin,

Jianguo Li

and Xiangming Li

submission deadline 16 Jan 2025 | Viewed by 104 | 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)

Swarm Intelligence in Multi-UAVs

edited by

Haibin Duan

submission deadline 17 Jan 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 13719 | Submission Open

Keywords: multi-UAVs; swarm intelligence; cooperative control; pigeon-inspired optimization

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

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

edited by

Adrian Deaconu

Razvan Udroiu

and Delia Elena Spridon

submission deadline 20 Jan 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 2689 | 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)

Digital Twins and Extended Reality: Opportunities and Challenges of Integrated Applications (2nd Edition)

edited by Daniela Oreni,

Fabrizio Banfi

and Davide Mezzino

submission deadline 24 Jan 2025 | Viewed by 166 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAVs digital twin XR-MR-AR-VR scan-to-BIM— BIM projects; HBIM projects; BIM-to-FEA; CoSim; BEM; InfraBIM conservation; management and dissemination of cultural built heritage fault diagnosis energy; structural analysis; and costs evaluation virtual museum; virtual– visual storytelling drone-based and drone-supported solutions

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 Jan 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1684 | Submission Open

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

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 25 Jan 2025 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1612 | 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

Drones in the Wild

edited by

Sophie F. Armanini

and Raphael Zufferey

submission deadline 31 Jan 2025 | 7 articles | Viewed by 20319 | Submission Open

Keywords: operations in cluttered spaces; rapid navigation in unknown spaces; novel; unconventional designs allowing new applications; hybrid and multi-modal drones; energy-efficient design; mission planning and control; swarming and collaborative tasks; highly autonomous mission execution; planning and navigation in complex dynamic environments; vision-based control; minimal sensing; navigation in dim or unlit environments; safe/soft drones that cause no damage; demonstration of new applications

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

Resilient UAV Autonomy and Remote Sensing: 2nd Edition

edited by

and

submission deadline 31 Jan 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 1108 | Submission Open

Keywords: drones; UAV; UAV swarm; computer vision; photogrammetry; remote sensing; LiDAR; aerial imagery; image and point cloud fusion; detection and tracking; segmentation; SLAM; path planning; 3D reconstruction; 3D visualization

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 31 Jan 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 585 | 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)

UAS in Smart Agriculture: 2nd Edition

edited by

Fei Liu

and

Yangquan Chen

submission deadline 1 Feb 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 4971 | 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)

Electric-Powered and Hybrid-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology and Applications of Low Altitude Aviation

edited by Wenbiao Gan, Zhou Zhou,

Saddam Aziz

and

Ilias Panagiotopoulos

submission deadline 1 Feb 2025 | Viewed by 258 | Submission Open

Keywords: electric-powered aircraft; distributed power; UAV; optimization design; aerodynamics; artificial intelligence; green aviation; urban air mobility and delivery; low altitude economy

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

Implementation of UAV Systems for Cultural Heritage

edited by

Luis Javier Sánchez Aparicio

Efstratios Stylianidis

Serafin López-Cuervo Medina

Tomas Ramón Herrero-Tejedor

and Julian Aguirre de Mata

submission deadline 10 Feb 2025 | Viewed by 378 | Submission Open

Keywords: cultural heritage; heritage documentation; drones; 3D point clouds; structure from motion; laser scanning; multispectral imaging

Weather Impacts on Uncrewed Aircraft

edited by

Kevin Adkins

Jamey Jacob

and

Joachim Reuder

submission deadline 18 Feb 2025 | 4 articles | Viewed by 14110 | Submission Open

Keywords: uncrewed aircraft; drone; atmospheric boundary layer; micrometeorology; advanced air mobility; atmospheric physics; UAS traffic management; hyperlocal forecasting; trajectory planning; drone sensors

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Cooperative Perception for Modern Transportation

edited by

Jinsheng Xiao

Jian Zhou

, Sheng Bao and Hailong Shi

submission deadline 18 Feb 2025 | Viewed by 360 | 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)

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

edited by

Inkyu Sa

Marija Popovic

and Ho Seok Ahn

submission deadline 18 Feb 2025 | Viewed by 68 | Submission Open

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

Drone Advances in Wildlife Research: 2nd Edition

edited by

Roxane Francis

and

Kate Brandis

submission deadline 19 Feb 2025 | 1 articles | Viewed by 2201 | Submission Open

Keywords: wildlife; UAV; fauna; flora; drones; conservation

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

Unmanned Aerial Manipulation with Physical Interaction

edited by Yushu Yu and Vincenzo Lippiello

submission deadline 20 Feb 2025 | Viewed by 55 | Submission Open

Keywords: unmanned aerial manipulation; cooperative unmanned aerial transportation; fully actuated unmanned aerial vehicle; interaction control; human– robot interaction; localization; reinforcement learning

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

Application of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Vegetation Monitoring

edited by

Tim Whiteside

submission deadline 28 Feb 2025 | 6 articles | Viewed by 9376 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV; vegetation monitoring; vegetation mapping; image analysis; plant phenotyping; spatio-temporal analysis

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

Drones in Sustainable Agriculture

edited by Zhiyan Zhou and Rui Jiang

submission deadline 28 Feb 2025 | 3 articles | Viewed by 8685 | Submission Open

Keywords: sensor fusion; signal/image processing; agriculture/farm; controlling system/flight control system; navigation and position/orientation; on-line and real-time processing of remote sensing data; UAV-based sensing; spraying; seeding; fertilizing; weeding; etc.; novel sensing system/method for phenotypes; autonomous take-off and landing; geometric and radiometric sensors; UAV control; obstacle sensing; and avoidance in farm; the calibration of imageries

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

Drone Communication, Networking, and Trajectory Control in Urban Environments

edited by

Endrowednes Kuantama

, Yu Zhang, Ningning Hou and Yimeng Feng

submission deadline 28 Feb 2025 | Viewed by 191 | Submission Open

Keywords: drone communication and networking; multi-drone coordination; real-time data transmission; urban air traffic management; drone navigation; trajectory planning; sustainable urban transport; on-board AI processing; millimeter wave radar enabled drone navigation; drone remote sensing using millimeter wave radar; LoRa-assisted drone communication and networking; LoRa for long range drone applications; novel drone applications; drone assisted wireless communications for 5G and beyond; drone security; integrated sensing and communication drone networks; remote object detection from drone; urban computing

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Advances in Guidance, Navigation, and Control

edited by

Haibin Duan

submission deadline 28 Feb 2025 | Viewed by 135 | Submission Open

Keywords: guidance systems; navigation systems; control systems; unmanned systems

Swarm Intelligence-Inspired Planning and Control for Drones

edited by

Kaiyu Qin

, Haitao Nie, Jinliang Shao,

and

submission deadline 28 Feb 2025 | Viewed by 79 | 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)

Advances in Autonomy of Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

edited by

Neil Bose

, Shuangshuang Fan and

Jimin Hwang

submission deadline 10 Mar 2025 | Viewed by 63 | 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

UAVs for Nature Conservation Tasks in Complex Environments

edited by Tom Richardson, Ulrik Pagh Schultz Lundquist and

Fabio Remondino

submission deadline 15 Mar 2025 | Viewed by 181 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV/MAV; perception; collaborative; wildlife; complex environments; navigation; mapping; real-time

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

Advances in the Use of UAVs for Monitoring and Analysis of Forage and Agricultural Crops: Technologies, Methods and Applications

edited by

Alexandre Maniçoba da Rosa Ferraz Jardim

and Luciana Sandra Bastos De Souza

submission deadline 17 Mar 2025 | Viewed by 14 | Submission Open

Keywords: precision agriculture; forage crops; agricultural monitoring; image analysis; yield estimation; thermal imaging; machine learning; 3D modeling; data modeling

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

Distributed Control, Optimization, and Game of UAV Swarm Systems (2nd Edition)

edited by Zhi Feng, Rui Yan,

Yishi Liu

, Xiaoduo Li and Qing Wang

submission deadline 20 Mar 2025 | Viewed by 102 | Submission Open

Keywords: UAV swarm systems; distributed control; formation control; distributed optimization; intelligent motion planning; swarm game; distributed Nash equilibrium seeking

AI for Cybersecurity in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)

edited by

Hassan El Alami

, Neji Mensi and Fatima Salahdine

submission deadline 15 Apr 2025 | Viewed by 23 | Submission Open

Keywords: AI-based cybersecurity frameworks; UAS cybersecurity; advanced AI models; secure communication protocols; autonomous systems; data privacy

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

Path Planning, Trajectory Tracking and Guidance for UAVs: 2nd Edition

edited by

and

submission deadline 30 Apr 2025 | Viewed by 187 | Submission Open

Keywords: path planning; trajectory tracking; guidance; navigation; and control; autonomous control; trajectory optimization; formation and reconfiguration

(This special issue belongs to the Section Drone Communications)

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